


Sky May Fall

by Snowlynx40



Series: Sky May Fall [1]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Lucifer (TV) Season/Series 05 Part 1, Chloe Decker Needs A Hug, Chloe KNOWS, Dan Espinoza Finds Out, Ella Lopez Finds Out, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), POV Chloe Decker, Post-Lucifer (TV) Season/Series 04, Post-Season/Series 04, Trixie knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 52,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23288359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowlynx40/pseuds/Snowlynx40
Summary: As Chloe deals with the aftermath of losing Lucifer to Hell and Lucifer tries to remain sane after returning, a renegade demon escapes Hell with plans to eradicate his erstwhile King. Can Lucifer come up with a solution to remain with his family on Earth?
Relationships: Chloe Decker & Lucifer Morningstar, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Series: Sky May Fall [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874491
Comments: 185
Kudos: 325





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a writer, and this story literally woke me from a dead sleep and I could not go BACK to sleep until I wrote a rough draft of chapters one and two. But then it came back with more. Are stories like stray cats? You give in once and suddenly it's your cat and clinging to your screens screaming until you let them inside??  
> I don't have a beta reader, so any mistakes are solely mine. If you spot any, let me know and I will gratefully fix or defend them, as needed. :) Also, tag suggestions are appreciated, because I suck at it.

Her eyes close as his fingers fall gently from her cheek with his whispered _"Goodbye"._ Her hand reaches up too late to try to catch his, and a soft brush of air wafts against her face, causing her loose hair to billow back gently. She pulls in a gasp and her eyes flicker open, and he is gone. The balcony is empty, as if he were never there, as if this were nothing more than a dream. 

_A nightmare. Not a dream._

She stands locked in place for, well, she doesn't quite know how long. She doesn't remember to draw in another breath until it's jarred into her body by her knees hitting the unforgiving marble landing and she kneels there, panting, shoulders pulled into a huddle as her arms wrap across her chest in a futile attempt to hold herself together. Eventually, she manages to regain her feet and stagger to the settee, where she pulls up her knees to her chest and rocks for awhile as her mind vacillates between denial and cold, soothing swathes of nothing. 

_He can't just be gone. He can't stay_ there.

Her eyes are blurry ( _with fatigue,_ denial whispers), and she decides she is too tired to drive home tonight. She wobbles to her feet again and up the stairs to the enormous, black-silk-clad bed and falls into it. Her face lands squarely in his pillow and her body curls around it without any conscious decision to do so. Her eyes are burning and it's not until she feels the cold clamminess of moisture on the pillowcase that she realizes she has started to cry. Once that realization breaks through, the floodgates slam down and her body wracks with violent sobs and bouts of trembling. She has no awareness of time passing until her eyes creak open to the blaze of late afternoon sunlight filtering in through the glass doors. Her head aches, and the pillowcase beneath her is stiff with the salt from last night's deluge. She remembers where she is, _and why_ , and lets apathy claim her for another, shorter eternity as she begins scouring her ragged edges for pieces of herself to begin the process of putting herself back together. 

Too many pieces are missing. _Large, important pieces_ are missing, but she continues the arduous task of building a semi-serviceable veneer of... okayness. She manages to uncoil from around Lucifer's pillow, and smooths the sheets back to their former pristine glory, and embarks on a quest to find dust cloths. 

_He'll be back. He always covers his furniture when he's making an extended trip. He forgot this time, so I'll take care of it._

She finds the dust covers tucked into a linen closet toward the penthouse's guest rooms. She manages to keep her face dry ( _if not her eyes_ ) as she gently tugs them into place over the furnishings. She gives the piano a soft caress before she smooths the wrinkles from the covering cloth. Her breath catches in her throat as she calls the elevator, and she hesitates before crossing the threshold into what she refuses to think of as _after_.

 _After Lucifer. After love._ _It's not after. He's coming back. He_ hates _it there._

She manages to make it into the elevator before the doors close, and back to her apartment before the tears begin again.

***********

Days pass, and she doesn't break. At least, not where anyone can see her. She files the paperwork for Lucifer's extended leave from the precinct, citing _family emergency_. She doesn't smile when she considers that it's a good thing she's become so adept at forging his signature due to his facetious claims of a paperwork allergy, but she _does_ appreciate the irony. Her sleep is regularly broken by amorphous night terrors; she doesn't wake screaming, but does bolt from sleep, terrified, jaw locked against cries she refuses to utter. She keeps up a fairly decent front for Trixie, who is entirely too sensitive to her parents' moods. Her Monkey is grieving just as much as they are; Lucifer was - _is! is!-_ one of her favorite people, and it hasn't been so long since the tragic loss of Charlotte. Trixie tries not to ask about Lucifer, but she's only a child, and manages to contain her hopeful queries to roughly every other day instead of daily. 

_"Does Lucifer know when he'll be home, Mommy?"_

_"No, baby, not yet. He.. he might have to be there for a long time. A... a really long time."_

_"That's okay Mommy, he'll come back to us. We're his family, too."_

_"That's right, sweetie, we are. He'll come back if- when- he can."_

These exchanges were usually thankfully just at bedtime, so Chloe could hide behind activities of turning out Trixie's bedside lamp and retreat to her own bed for another bout of silent tears. 

Dan tentatively asks about Lucifer's absence about a week after his departure. 

"Hey Chlo'-," he places a coffee in front of her, then proceeds to fidget with his empty hands. "I, uh, tried to call Lucifer the other day and his phone just kicked to voicemail- which was full? Do you know how I can get in touch?"

Chloe gives him a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes- the only kind she can manage right now- and takes a sip of the coffee. She manages not to grimace at the wrongness of the taste. Dan has never managed to get it right, and Lucifer.. well. He always did manage it. Perfectly. 

"He," she pauses, swallows again. "He's not going to be reachable for a while, Dan. He had to go home, and there's no service there."

"Wow, really?" his eyebrows contract in confusion, "What part of England is so remote that there's no cell service? Or even landlines?"

"I'm- not really sure. Did you need help with something?"

"Well, no. I mean, yeah, I do, but it's something that only he-" Dan flusters a bit, before taking a deep breath and settling. "I've been seeing Dr. Martin about.. about Charlotte. My uh, issues. Part of her recommendation was to talk to Lucifer about. About what happened. Everything. So I can, uh, process."

Chloe feels the blood slowly leaching from her face.

 _Linda doesn't know. Amenadiel doesn't know. Oh.._ Maze _doesn't know. Did he not say goodbye to anyone? If I hadn't appeared on the balcony, would he have said goodbye to_ me _? Or would he have just... disappeared again?_ Slow, impotent fury starts to rise and she can feel the heat of the blood returning to her face, in force.

"Chloe?" Dan's uncertain voice breaks into her rage-filled reverie, "You okay?"

She clears her throat. "Uh, yeah." Her voice is flat, unemotional. She considers that a win at this point. "I'm sorry, Dan, he's just not reachable. No forwarding address right now."

"Oookay. Well, I uh, I've got a lead to follow, so I'll-er- talk to you later, Chlo'." He retreats to his own desk as quickly as possible without physically running.

She sighs, runs her hand over her face and takes a moment to calm herself. _At least Dan is getting some help. Trixie needs at least one parent firing on most cylinders._

*******************

Chloe takes the inadvertent reminder to make some time to visit Linda after work. Knocking on the door proved harder than she had thought it would be, and she only just manages to softly rap on the door instead of making a strategic retreat back to her cruiser in the drive.

_I am not afraid of this conversation. I just don't want to wake the baby if he's down for a nap._

**_Now, Detective... a lie to oneself is still a_ lie _... you know how I feel about those._**

She's already mentally snapped a response, _**You lie to yourself all the time!**_ When she realizes she hears it in his voice. Chloe is frozen, eyes wide on Linda's porch when the door cracks open to reveal a beaming Linda. 

"Chloe! It's so good of you to-" she stops and takes in her expression and the smile shatters. "What's wrong? Come inside!" Linda reaches out and yanks Chloe inside by her jacket, locking the door and pulling out her phone immediately. "Is it demons? Chloe! Talk to me!"

Linda's panic knocks loose Chloe's confusion and she's quick to reassure, placing her hand over Linda's phone to stop her from dialing anyone. "No! No, I'm sorry Linda, I just.. something took me by surprise just after I knocked, everything is fine!" Her voice breaks. "Well, not fine. Not at _all fine,_ actually, but none of us are in any danger. Lucifer made sure of that." Her voice breaks as the words fall from her lips, and the tears start to fall again. 

Will they never run dry?? 

Linda's arms wrap around her friends shoulders, and they stand in silence for a long moment as Linda murmurs soothing noises into Chloe's ear. Eventually, she pulls back and swings to the side, leading her into the sitting room where Charlie is asleep in a bassinet. "Come inside, let me get you a drink and you can tell me what's wrong."

Chloe sits, idly turning the wine glass in her hand, watching the light reflect off the deep red liquid inside. There's really only one place to start. The same place she seems to be trapped. The place she keeps returning to in her head, in her shattered heart.

"He's gone. He... went back."

"He.. Lucifer? Lucifer went back. To Hell?" Linda's eyes are wide, her jaw hanging open as she processes this. "When will he be back?"

"I don't..." Tears well again, but she fights them this time. "I don't know if he-" Deep breaths, Decker. "If he _can_ come back. He said- he said they must have a King. Or they could come back. For Charlie. Or. Or me."

Linda's face pales. "He said - you were there?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I went to check in with him after I made sure Charlie and you guys were okay. He was.. He was on the balcony, ready to go already, I think. I tried to..." She loses track, tears are falling again but she speaks through them, needing to get the burning words out of her mouth before they turn to ash. "Linda, I begged him not to go. But he, he had to. He's protecting all of us, and he's _gone."_

Linda comes to sit on the loveseat next to her. Pressing against her side in a show of support and wrapping an arm around her waist. Chloe sinks into that support like a warm bath, the first support she's really allowed herself to accept- the first time she's been able to tell the truth, and oh it burns, but it also soothes, just a little. 

"He left immediately, then. And didn't say a word to anyone else. He was probably afraid we would either try to talk him out of it... or..." here she pauses, uncertain if she could continue the thought, "afraid we would try to force him into it."

"Linda, if I hadn't. If I didn't go there," she draws in a jagged breath, "I. I don't even think he would have said goodbye to me. He was at the railing when I stepped off the elevator, I think he would have just disappeared."

Linda says nothing, just squeezes her tightly. Chloe feels that anger rising like tide again, and knocks back her wine in a single swallow. "How could he just... _leave us?"_

Linda recognizes the emotion, and the grief beneath it. She refills Chloe's glass and takes a quiet breath, anchoring her own grief deeply to deal with later. She can't fail Chloe now. Lucifer would want her to help wherever she could. 

"Chloe, Lucifer had to make a terrible decision. Seeing you was probably the best thing that could have happened for him at that time."

"I _begged him_ not to leave. I told him I-" another jagged breath, "I told him I loved him, and asked him not to go. I don't... Linda, it's not _fair._."

Linda allows a small smile to cross her face, but it doesn't make a lasting ripple on her expression. "Chloe. Your love is probably the only thing that _could_ have swayed him in that moment. But... his responsibilities. He feels things so deeply, Chloe. I can't go into confidentialities, but I know that he didn't make this decision easily. _Oh."_ she gasps softly. "How on Earth am I going to break this to Amenadiel?"

Chloe chuffs a watery laugh. "Forget Amenadiel. How are we going to tell _Maze?"_

_"Ooohhh..."_

Just then, Charlie begins to fuss, and Linda enters into new-mom mode. Chloe finishes her wine and rises to leave. "I think you should talk with Amenadiel, Chloe. I know you have questions, and I can't help with a lot of them due to patient confidentiality. But Amenadiel... he won't have all the answers, but he's going to need to talk with someone that loves Lucifer, too."

"Thank you, Linda. I'll... I'll think about it."

******************

More days pass. Flat, boring _empty_ days. Cases come, she catches her bad guys, but nothing _really_ registers inside her existential fog. She gets used to hearing Lucifer's voice echoing inside her head at seemingly random points throughout her day. Sometimes with advice, sometimes just off-color remarks. She's stopped freezing when she hears it pipe up.

Nearly a week passes before she calls Amenadiel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the trick! When I initially wrote the original first chapter (now posted as a separate work, Sea May Rise), I had no intentions of ever writing anything else. But the story wouldn't rest, so I wrote the rest. Then... The first chapter style didn't match the rest of the story and THAT wouldn't rest until the details of Chloe's conversations got written down. So. Here you go, my brave souls. I hope you like it!

"Hello, Chloe." His rich, warm tone rolls through her earpiece. "How are you?"

"I've-" she huffs a breath, the closest she can come to a wry laugh now. "- been better. When I spoke to Linda last week, she had suggested you might be willing to speak with me, if I had questions?"

"Of course," his voice is gentle. Nothing at all like his brother's often-manic cheer, but it fills her with a drop of warmth nonetheless. They make plans to meet at Lucifer's penthouse on Saturday morning. Dan has Trixie for the weekend, so that should give them plenty of time to have a good, in-depth discussion.

Chloe arrives at the penthouse Friday night, unable to wait another moment to visit. As the elevator doors open, the wash of warm air brings familiar, comforting scents and Chloe feels as though she hasn't been able to breathe properly since her last visit, just after her discussion with Linda. She presses the plate on the wall and watches the light fixture and fireplace blaze to life, sending warm shadows skittering across the shrouded fixtures. She crosses the room, boot heels clicking, to the settee and pulls the cloth away, then turns and surveys the room. Ghosts of melodies echo through her mind, and she heads for the piano and unveils it as well. She pulls up the lid covering the keys and runs her fingers gently over them. Not to play, only to let her fingers rest where his have spent so much time.

She closes the lid and meanders slowly to Lucifer's closet, where she chooses a shirt to sleep in.

_It's tradition at this point. I'm definitely not changing that now._

The soft fabric still smells of him, and it feels like an embrace. She knows it isn't, but she's willing to take these tiny comforts where she can. She spends the evening perusing Lucifer's library, surprised by what she finds there. Ancient texts, in languages she can't even begin to identify, let alone understand.

 _Could he read all these?_ Would _he read these?_ Lucifer had never proclaimed himself a scholar, or even a great reader. She finds a leather-wrapped Hamlet manuscript signed, "Thanks for the punch-up! - Will" 

_Wow._ She wraps it back up and places it reverently back on the shelf. She turns to survey the desk, which is surprisingly organized. Nothing appears out of place, supplies all neatly pressed into their assigned places.

 _How can such a chaotic personality have such a neat streak?_ She thinks to herself with a wry twist of her lips. Her fingertips trail along the desk's smooth finish, finding a seal with his initials, and some deep crimson sticks of wax. 

A yawn surprises her, and she makes her way to the bedroom, where she curls up underneath the silk sheets and warm duvet. She curls around his pillow, and looks out the windows to the city and sky beyond, and with a rusty voice she begins to speak.

"I know you can't hear me. And there's a really good chance that I'm never-" she pulls in a shallow breath, "-never going to see you again. I am... upset, Lucifer. No. I'm not upset. I am _furious_ with you for leaving me. For leaving _us._ And I am so..." another broken breath "so _proud of you_." She buries her face into his pillow, breathing in that much-needed scent. She pulls in breath after breath, letting it wash over her, calm her as she falls asleep. 

The night terrors make no appearance and she wakes, feeling rested with enough time to have a shower and make coffee and brunch for herself and Amenadiel. 

He arrives on time, of course. He navigates the penthouse with a dazed familiarity, as though the enormity of his brother's missing presence is throwing him off. 

Chloe gives him a smile - she's getting better at forcing her face to move, though it still doesn't reach her eyes. A voice that still doesn't quite sound like hers welcomes him and thanks him for coming.

His answering smile is preoccupied, his eyes are still moving around the penthouse, searching for something.

"I just can't believe he-" his sentence trails off. "I wish he had come to talk with me first. I worked so hard for years to force him to go back, and he wouldn't budge. And now that he's gone, it feels so- wrong."

"Why?" Chloe asks, heatedly. " _Why_ would you want to force him to go back to Hell? He _hates it,_ Amenadiel."

His eyes carry a profound sadness in their depths. "Chloe, I haven't tried to force him back there for several years now. I stopped around the time of the Malcolm fiasco, honestly. Around the time I fell."

"What?" she pulls up short. "What do you know about Malcolm?"

"Is that where you want to start?" He heaves a sigh. "In all honesty, Chloe, that's a pretty big one to jump into right at the beginning."

"Okay." She thinks for a beat, digging her fork into her scrambled eggs. "Let's start at the beginning, then."

His eyes widen. "THE beginning? Hooooow long are we planning to be here?"

The corner of her mouth quirks in acknowledgement. "Perhaps not _the_ beginning. What do you know from the time Lucifer and I met? The Delilah case?"

"Not much," he admits. "We... weren't close then. The only thing I know is that both Maze and I were irritated that he was interfering with human affairs, and that he saved your life."

"Interfering?"

"He... never cared, before." Amenadiel thinks for a moment, trying to frame his answer. "He would uh, mingle, cause some mischief, you know how he is. But caring about specific humans? Not that I ever noticed."

"What about Eve?"

"Well, Eve is always an exception." Amenadiel looked down at his own cooling meal. "He... took an interest. Introduced her to some new things, had some fun, got into some trouble. But no, Chloe, he never cared for her, _before_. Not anything like the way I've seen in the past few years."

Chloe ponders this in silence for a few minutes, and Amenadiel starts to eat. 

They discuss Lucifer's surprise and excitement at his discovery of Chloe's effect on his invulnerability.

"So he finds out I make him bleed, and he decides he needs to be around me _more often?_ How does that make sense?" She's sure her eyebrows are disappearing into her hairline.

"Well, we didn't know what was causing it at first, only that he was able to be injured," Amenadiel prevaricates quietly. His own eyebrows are furrowed, his thoughts turned inward.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I am... not proud of who I was then, Chloe." The answer is muted, reticent. "My focus was entirely on fulfilling my assignment and getting my brother back to Hell as quickly as possible. He had cornered me into a deal allowing him to stay as long as he liked, and I was adamant that I would find a way around it."

Chloe arches an eyebrow. "How exactly did he manage to con _you_ into a deal?"

"It was several years before you two met. It actually involves this place, before it was Lux. And the murder of a fighter and me getting shot and my necklace stolen as well..."

"Wait. Wait, wait. What?" Chloe asks, incredulous. Something about this is ringing familiar. "Oh, my Go--ooodness, _it was you!!"_ She looks at Amenadiel, and remembers the strangely dressed man coming in to report a robbery on Cahuenga around the same time that MMA fighter Aiden Scott had been killed in a seeming mugging. "What on Earth did you two have to do with the Aiden Scott case?"

"We had very little to do with it, but the man that killed that young man also shot me and stole the necklace my father had given me." His hand reaches up to graze the place on his chest where the necklace once rested. "I was desperate, once I realized human law enforcement could not help me, and Lucifer offered to help... for a price. We managed to infiltrate the fixed fights, and the man that shot me revealed the location of my necklace. We then dropped him back where human law enforcement could find him."

Chloe huffs an incredulous laugh. "Amenadiel, I _worked_ that case. That case was instrumental in my progress to making Detective." She shakes her head. She was working cases alongside Lucifer before she even _knew_ Lucifer. How much odder can life be?

As it turns out, _much_ odder. Amenadiel doesn't shy away from his own involvement in muddying the waters of Lucifer's visit to Earth. He admits to Chloe his planning with Maze, using Linda as an unknowing weapon to try to steer Lucifer back to his throne.

"Divinity affects humanity in strange ways, Chloe. Lucifer's wings... They couldn't be allowed to remain among humans." 

"What did you do with them, once you found them?"

"Lucifer burned them."

"He... he burned them?" Her heart shudders at the thought of those stunning white wings crisping into cinders, at how _much_ Lucifer must have wanted his freedom from his father to cut them off in the first place, but he kept them safe... until his brother's plotting had forced his hand. How would he have felt, after? She remembers the bruising on his face when she visited the penthouse after the auction.

_"Oh, this? Yes. Just a little, you know, squabble with my bro. Nothing serious."_

_Now_ they come to Malcolm. Amenadiel admits to bringing Malcolm back from the dead as a catalyst to send Lucifer back to Hell the hard way.

Chloe stares at him, horrified. "Amenadiel... he killed 3 people! _That we know of!_ He _kidnapped Trixie!_ He shot your brother, and would have killed me and Trixie too!" Chloe stops, appalled. "Oh my- he really did kill Lucifer, didn't he? He died when Malcolm shot him, and... got... better."

Amenadiel won't meet her eyes."I know. I _know_ , Chloe. Malcolm - that was a huge reason behind my Fall. I lost my wings, my powers, after that. I didn't deserve my Father's grace any longer."

 _"You lied to me,"_ Chloe hisses, fury darkening her eyes. "You helped convince me that your- that Lucifer was delusional with your little bullet proof vest and blood packs routine. Your brother _died_ for my daughter, for me, and _you_ played him off as a crazy - _method actor!!"_

He doesn't try to defend himself, which only fuels her anger. She walks away, out to the balcony for some air, to cool down. She can't lose her temper now, as much as she wants to punch Amenadiel in his repentant face right now. She walks out the glass doors and can see the image of Lucifer there, rolling his shoulders as his wings unfurl- no more draconic wings, just gleaming white feathers.

Lucifer, leaning against the railing, eyes bleak, drink in hand. _"I hope you know, I would- I would do anything to protect that little urchin."_

Her wave of anger crashes against the slate cliffs of grief and shatters into billions of razor-sharp shards, all intent on shredding her into bleeding ribbons of agony. She catches her breath and stands frozen for an eternal moment, as Amenadiel gives her time and space to process.

She comes back to the bar when her breathing returns to normal, and starts to clear the dishes. Amenadiel helps her by drying as she washes, unknowingly causing her a pang as he takes over the duty that Lucifer always took up when they would share a meal and cleanup together while working on a case. She carefully prods him to continue the Malcolm story while she has something to occupy her hands.

"I hadn't known that Malcolm had been killing people since he had been back- when Lucifer told me that, I knew he had to be stopped, and sent back to Hell."

"So, killing your brother is one thing, killing random people is another?" she can't help but comment.

Amenadiel slides his eyes toward her without turning his head. "Chloe, I _know_ now how out of line that thinking was. I wouldn't even consider anything like that now. All I could think at the time was that if Lucifer died here, he would go back to his rightful position as King of Hell, and I wouldn't have to come after him anymore because without his wings, he would be stuck there. Killing humans has always been anathema, it's our Father's primary rule for an Angel interacting with humans. Probably the only one Lucifer ever actually followed."

"The street preacher. Do you know how Lucifer managed his disappearing act?"

"That.. was me, actually. I saw what he was doing and used my time talent to snatch him away before the bullet could reach him. We wound up on a rooftop and agreed to work together to bring Malcolm down."

"Really." Chloe's voice is flat.

"Yes. He... Lucifer was not in a good place just then. He actually wanted me to- asked me to just take him back to Hell."

Chloe's stomach twists again. She can see him doing that. Cornered, betrayed at every single turn ( _by me... again),_ he would have sought out a familiar place to run, and lick his wounds. The only place he could run _to_ was Hell... and the only way he could get there was to die, or be carried by his conniving sibling. The knives twisting in her gut seem to get sharper.

"We tracked Malcolm down, and split up. He managed to get hold of one of Maze's Hell-forged blades, and stabbed me. Those weapons can kill anything, even a celestial being. Lucifer found us and Malcolm ran. He... he stayed with me until Maze came and told him to go. We came back here, and she- she healed me." His face lights with a soft glow as he shares this memory.

" _Maze_ healed you?" 

"Yes, she- well. She did. She had one of Lucifer's feathers, and used it to heal the infernal wound."

"Lucifer's feathers. They can heal?"

"Yes, well no. I mean, they are full of Grace, and can heal a divine being by.. acting as a sort of divine battery. They serve as a power source for a weakened divine being to heal themselves. They won't work on a human, or an infernal being."

"I... see." 

"By the time Lucifer came back here, I was only just waking up, and Maze was gone. He told me, though, about his deal with Father."

"His deal?"

"Yes, he, uh. When he was shot, and er, dying, he made a deal with Father. He offered to do as he was told, and..." Amenadiel falls silent, and doesn't offer to finish his sentence.

"In exchange for?"

"What?"

She slants a look his way as she washes the last piece of silverware. "You know how deals work. He offered to do as he was told in exchange for...what, being able to come back to Earth?"

Amenadiel sighs. "In exchange for protection. For you. To keep you safe."

 _Lucifer._ The knives in her gut are even sharper now. And multiplying. Obedience is _not_ something her partner willingly offers if there is any other option available. _Did he love me even then?_

"And what did your Father ask of him in return?" Dishes done, they moved back into the living area and chose seats on the settee.

"We're still not quite sure on that, but he showed Lucifer that our Mother had escaped Hell once I was injured and no longer able to patrol the gates."

"Your... Mother."

"Yes, you met her. Charlotte?"

"Your... step-mother?" Chloe is having a very hard time keeping up with the rapid-fire revelations, but is insistent on following through.

"No, that was our, uh cover story. Charlotte was killed, and her soul went to Hell. Our Mother, the Divine Goddess, occupied her body when you knew her."

"I've met the Divine Goddess. And the eldest angel. And Satan is my partner. Am I missing anyone? Oh my-- Was God Johnson _actually_ your Father??"

"Um."

"Amenadiel!"

"Yes, and no. That gentleman hosted part of my Father's spirit and abilities while he maintained contact with a particular artifact. But he was _not_ , in any other aspect, my Father."

"Okay. So. The Divine Goddess, AKA Charlotte Richards. Go on."

"Well. Lucifer didn't have wings, and by the time I found out Mom was back, neither did I. We didn't _have_ a way to return her to Hell, not without her being able to bounce right back. So, she stayed, and Lucifer found a punishment for her here."

"He... okay wait. Why was the Divine Goddess in Hell to start with?"

"She, uh. May have had a slight quarrel with humanity in general."

"A slight quarrel." Chloe narrows her eyes.

"Yes. Plagues, wars, natural disasters. You may have heard about some of it actually - There was a rather sizable flood?" 

"Are you-" she stops herself. Of course he's serious. "Okay. So God threw his ex-wife in Hell with his Outcast son. Good to know. So, what punishment did Lucifer come up with for your Mother?"

"She was to go into the life of Charlotte Richards, and learn to be Human. This was the price he decided she would pay in order to remain on Earth with her sons."

"That.. that actually makes sense." To a being that considered humans a nuisance, a pestilence to be eradicated, being forced to become one (even if only on the surface), would definitely be considered a fitting punishment.

"Lucifer has always been skilled at finding and implementing just punishments and reparations, even before Hell. Unfortunately, our brother Uriel did not agree, and came down to take matters into his own hands. He demanded we return Mother to Hell, or he would take back the other end of the deal."

"My safety."

"Yes. I tried to confront him, but without my angelic power, and with Uriel's talents for pattern precognition, he defeated me easily." Amenadiel clasps his hands between knees, leaning forward and hanging his head.

"So-"

"Mom was doing well with her punishment here on Earth. When Lucifer found out I had been beaten, he went to confront Uriel himself. I was not there, but I know that when he appeared without Mother, Uriel revealed a plan that would not only have ended your life, but would also have erased our Mother from existence, as well. He had stolen our sister Azrael's blade, which has the ability to destroy souls completely, even divine ones."

The thought of Lucifer confronting a deranged sibling with a soul-destroying weapon... _Where on Earth was I when all this was happening? How did I not have a single clue what was going on nearly under my nose?_ "What-"

"Both Lucifer and Maze were defeated by Uriel's understanding of fight sequence patterns, but Lucifer managed to take him by surprise just before he set the plan in motion for your demise. He- he managed to get hold of Azriel's blade, and... and used it." His voice choked at the admission.

 _He. He used the soul-destroying blade. On his brother._ For me. **To save me.** She remembers this time period, when Lucifer was her self-proclaimed "Guardian Devil", telling her she was in danger. She remembers what came after. The sniper case.

_"Do you want to work this case with me, or not?"_

_"Of course I do. Every killer must be punished."_

_"You want to be punished for something."_

_"You can't understand, Detective. And you never will."_

No wonder he was such a wreck. And... and she had been so impatient with him. Nearly cruel in her harsh responses to his acting out. The silence in the penthouse stretches, both lost for a time in their own tangled recollections. Finally, Amenadiel breaks it.

"Luci buried Uri, with Azrael's blade. But... Mom led a human to the grave and convinced them steal the blade from it."

"Your mother deliberately turned a soul-destroying sword loose in LA?" _How is this really my life?_ She remembers this case fairly well, Lucifer taking off on his own for most of the case, and managing to wind up wherever she was going just a hair before her arrival.

_"Some tech pulled the murder weapon without documentation, and now it's just gone."_

_"Right. Well, it's probably for the best. Nasty bit of steel, anyway."_

_"So, one second you're obsessed with the knife, and now it's just no big deal?"_

_"Well, we got the murderer, didn't we? Job done."_  
  
"She- did, yes. Mom was pretty desperate to get back to Heaven, and at the time she was trying to get Father's attention by, well, massive amounts of lives lost with a divine weapon. Mom never really did have a good grasp on... appropriate attention-seeking behavior."

"Appropriate." Chloe snorted dryly. "Why do I feel like Lucifer takes more after her than your Father?"

"You're not the first to say so, actually." Amenadiel's face screws up into a look of disgust that Chloe really doesn't want to have explained, but Amenadiel moves on without elaborating. "She tried to blow up your car when she decided you were the reason that Luci wouldn't help her get back to Heaven."

"She tried t- _what_??" Now Chloe's eyebrows really _do_ disappear into her hairline.

"I stopped her! She just thought, if you were gone, he would be willing to come to Heaven with us if he lost his home here. She was going to destroy Lux, but when you helped Luci with his sit-in, she decided you were the bigger problem." Amenadiel doesn't seem nearly as disturbed by his mother's tactics as Chloe feels he should be, but then...

**_When one is dealing with the Divine Goddess, one should probably suppose that "Go big or go home" would definitely be the norm._ **

That thought arrives in Lucifer's voice, and her throat closes a bit in response. She clears it, and swallows. "What happened after you talked her out of blowing me up?"

"Well... Maze blew up my car when I tried to remove the explosive from yours. And that was right about the time that Mom was trying to get you to betray Lucifer, and then we-"

Chloe decides not to comment on Maze blowing up Amenadiel's car. At this point, she's one hundred percent certain that he deserved it.

"You mean when she had me on the stand, and tried to get me to call Lucifer a liar in court?" That little ploy still made her blood boil. Though she had thought Charlotte was one of Lucifer's exes at the time, not his _mother_. The fact that she was the reason her father's killer had walked free certainly didn't help matters there.

"Yes, Mom was trying to make Lucifer realize that no one here would love and support him the way she thought he hoped they would-"

"Amenadiel."

"Yes?"

"No offense meant to you, but your family is _sincerely_ screwed up."

"We... we do have our moments. Especially where Mom and Lucifer are involved." He takes the criticism in stride. It all probably seemed pretty normal to him, she supposes. "Oh, and right after that trial is when we figured out that you're a miracle-"

"Whoa." Chloe holds her hands up in a "Time Out" position. "I'm a what, now?"

"Lucifer didn't tell you about that? _Oh_ , no he probably didn't get a chance, did he, because I think it was right after that-"

"Back up. Just a _damn_ minute." Chloe's frustration is nearing it's limit. "What do you _mean_ I'm a miracle?"

"My Father sent me to Earth to bless your parents so they could conceive and carry a child that never would have existed otherwise. I met your mother just after that trial, and I recognized her, and I realized what I had been asked to do. That was what convinced me at the time that I needed to help Mom with her plan to get back to Heaven."

"What does that MEAN?" Her voice is rising now with her anger, "What does it MEAN that I'm a miracle? I was never supposed to be here? I was, what, PUT here? For what? _Why?"_

Amenadiel gazes at Chloe, confused. "We, don't really know. Father doesn't tell us what his plans are, really, we can only guess. Mom's thought was that you were placed here for Lucifer. You're immune to his abilities. You don't put up with his crap. And he loves you. Unconditionally. Even when you chose to be with Pierce. Even when you tried to send him back to Hell, he loved you."

His voice is soft, unaccusing, and yet it sends more daggers twisting- not in her gut this time, but in her heart. She remembers the aftermath of the poisoner case, their embrace outside the lab.   
  


_"This is real, isn't it?"_ _His incredulous voice tender_.

Then later, Lucifer bursting into her house, agitated, angry.

_"Did you know? Hmm?" he roared as she tried desperately to staunch the flow of blood from her nostril. "This whole bloody time, DID YOU KNOW?"_

_"Lucifer, something's wrong. It.. it won't stop." His face, frozen in anger, slowly melting into panic._

She thinks for a moment of the frantic rush to find an antidote. Her resultant collapse and trip to the hospital, and waking up in the bed to Lucifer and Dan arguing. 

_"I don't want Trixie to get scared seeing me like this. Do I look okay?"_

_"You... you look heaven-sent."  
_

Then, still later, waking again to Lucifer sitting next to her bed, looking more than a bit haggard.

_"Well. Look who's back. You didn't die after all. That makes one of us."_

"He went to Hell again to get my antidote, didn't he. He... died. Again. For me."

"He did, yes. It nearly didn't work. We positioned him in the room below yours, so Maze could stop his heart, and Linda was going to bring him back. I was stationed in your room to keep them from moving you during his... visit."

"MAZE killed him?"

Amenadiel nods, "She was supposed to. But apparently couldn't work up the nerve, so Luci took the paddles and did it himself."  
  


"He-" 

"Then he nearly got stuck down there when he went poking around in his Hell loop-"

"Whoa!" She cries. "Lucifer _killed himself_ to get an antidote from a dead poisoner in Hell to save me. Then nearly got trapped there? He's.. he's the King of Hell, how does that even work? He can't have a cell there if he's the King!" Her breathing kicks up, but she feels like she's not getting any air.

"Chloe, Lucifer still didn't have his wings. He was feeling immensely guilty for eradicating Uriel, and probably also from sending you running after that poisoner in the first place. Mom went down to pull him out, and they made it back in time to save you." Amenadiel moves to sit next to her, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. 

"Your-" Her mouth works but no sound emerges for a moment. "Your _mother_ went to Hell to save Lucifer. How-"

"Oh, Maze killed her to send her down there. Then Linda was able to bring them both back, once they were out of Luci's loop."

Chloe blinks stupidly at him, and only then realizes how dark it is in the penthouse. She looks out the enormous windows, lit only from the glow of the city below.

"What time is it?" She croaks the question, then fishes out her phone and thumbs the screen. It's nearly 11 PM, they've been talking for nearly 12 hours. "Can we... Amenadiel, can we call it a day? I think I've got enough to process for now."

"Of course, Chloe. You've... gotten a lot of disturbing information today. Can I help with anything? Give you a ride home?"

"No. No, I- I'll stay here tonight." The corner of her mouth turns up in an approximation of a smile. "Can we meet again tomorrow?"

"That will be fine, but, ah, Linda may want to come with me tomorrow. I had a very difficult time convincing her to stay away today..."

"That's... that's probably a really good idea. I know she can't breach confidentiality, but I bet she has more to tell. And she loves him, too."

His teeth gleam white in the dark. "She does, indeed."

*********************

Chloe wanders back into Lucifer's bedroom and takes up the shirt she had worn last night to sleep in again. It still has some slight vestiges of his scent, and she takes a deep breath as she settles into the bed and wraps herself around his pillow, allowing the encroaching guilt she's been aware of all day to come and wash over her. It does. The weight of it presses her into the mattress in suffocating waves. 

Lucifer- her friend, her partner- had not only died _(twice, her vindictive brain reminds her)_ , but had killed one of his brothers to keep her safe from threats she had remained stubbornly oblivious to. And had told her nothing less than the truth about it the entire time. This man, who was so afraid that he deserved the label of 'Evil' that humanity had painted him with that he had effectively convinced himself that he was unworthy of love, forgiveness, and any kind of affection. 

_Just a few months ago you were so terrified just of seeing his face that you were willing to work with a psychotic priest to send him back to Hell. And he wasn't even really angry at you for trying._

She can't go back to that horrible moment of confrontation just now, she doesn't have the strength. She starts talking instead.

"Lucifer, I am- I know I've said it already, and I am so glad I got the chance to say it to you before you left- but I am so very sorry. Not just for how I acted when I saw your face, but for how I reacted every single time I didn't know what you were going through. I just... I treated you like you were causing trouble just to be... you, and I didn't have a clue. I didn't believe you, and... And I should have. I should have, but _dammit_ , Lucifer how on Earth could I have? Weird stuff like Superman strength and hypno-mojo does NOT equal Satan! Standing so close to you, you're- you're like the sun! Your light is so bright, it just swallows everything else. I was blinded. I couldn't see anything but _you._ I only- I wish we could have had some time to work this all out together."

She is, however, grateful that they _did_ get a chance to clear the air somewhat for her involvement with Kinley. She made a lot of wrong decisions, but at least she knows that Lucifer forgave her for them. She feels the weight start to lessen as she folds herself more tightly around the pillow. She thinks about the times she's slept here before, alone- _always alone-_ and a ghost of a smile flickers across her face as she recalls her sheer horror the first time she awoke in this bed.

_"What, you mean you don't remember the part where you passed out, woke up again, shouted at me 'It's too hot in this 5-story hellhole', I believe it was- then tore your clothes off and proceeded to hog the bed?"_

She buries her face into the pillow- his pillow- and tries to identify the components that make up that scent that is uniquely Lucifer. The rich peat of aged whiskey, his own undefinable musk and something crisp. His soap? What do archangel wings smell like? Maybe starlight has a scent. She snuggles in, and feels her bullet necklace shift against her skin. Another memory of a time she fell asleep here, on her birthday when Lucifer returned from Las Vegas and stumbled into the remnants of their impromptu party. He hadn't been angry then either, at the mess they had created or at his uninvited guests crashing all over his home. He had settled onto the edge of the mattress and told her that he never wanted to hurt her- while he thought she'd been asleep. Then he had opened the safe they had been unable to crack, and presented her with her gift- the bullet she had shot him with, to commemorate her "penetration" of him. It had been absurdly sweet, and just exactly right. A tiny smile spreads across her face, and remains there as sleep infiltrates her mind, and she wakes with the feeling that someone had been nearby just a moment ago. But nothing is amiss in the room aside from a slight stirring of the air, and she feels refreshed and ready to face another day of revelations with Amenadiel.

***********************

Amenadiel arrives with Linda and Charlie in tow. Linda sets up Charlie's portable playpen while Amenadiel helps Chloe finish up breakfast preparations. Chloe watches Linda with a small smile on her face.

 _Baby equipment in the penthouse. Oh, Lucifer, what I wouldn't give to hear your reaction to_ this _situation._

Chloe is ready to pick up where they left off, and more questions have presented themselves overnight.

"You said yesterday that Lucifer got stuck in his Hell loop when he went down to get the antidote to save me..." She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. "Amenadiel- he's in Hell _now_. What's to stop him getting trapped back in his loop?"

An uncertain look flashes across the angel's face. "I don't have all the details about Hell, but I _think_ that now he has his wings back, his loop should no longer be able to trap him."

"You think."

"I tried to pray to him last night, Chloe, but he isn't answering me. The only thing we can do is trust him to handle himself."

 _I trust him with a lot of things... but handling himself is big ask._ The situation, though. She can trust him with the situation, even though knowing that he will neglect himself to extremes in order to keep the situation in tenuous hand makes her eyes burn with unshed tears.

"You're right. Of course, you're right." Chloe pulls in a breath and starts dishing out a plate, giving her hands something to do. "So. So after he came back with the antidote, he left for Vegas. And came back married."

"Yes." Amenadiel's voice is solemn. "I was confused about that as well. Before he left he had asked me to watch over you, and when he returned with Candy I felt like he had played me for a fool. When I confronted him, he admitted that Mom had told him about you being placed here, and-" he stops, watching her face.

She keeps her expression steady. "And what?"

Amenadiel shoots a look toward Linda and sighs. "He told me that he was afraid your feelings toward him were being manipulated by Father, and that he had needed a way to save you... from him. So he struck a deal with Candy to help drive a wedge between the two of you, to give you back your choice."

Chloe's eyes are stormy. 

_You let me down, Lucifer… I mean, what good is a partner if I can't depend on you? I don't need you anymore.  
  
_ He was trying to protect me. Again. _If I had just listened to him, really listened - how much could we have avoided?_ She closes her eyes against the rising tide of regrets as Linda approaches the bar. 

"So, where are we?" Linda asks as she starts to prepare her own plate. Chloe shakes herself out of her thoughts and digs in before her own breakfast can get any colder.

"Candy." Amenadiel supplies.

"Oooh, Candy." Linda chuckles. "That one really came out of left field. Even I didn't expect that."

"Amenadiel was just telling me that Lucifer married her because he thought he needed to protect me from his Father's manipulation..."

"Mmm. It's no wonder he's such an advocate for Free Will."

"Free will?" Chloe meets Linda's eyes. "Linda, he basically took my choice away from me when he ran off and married that... that..."

"Exotic dancer?" Linda's smile is sympathetic. "He told me this as a friend, Chloe, so I'm going to share it with you. He _wanted_ you to choose him, but he didn't want you to be _forced_ to choose him. It didn't matter how much he loved-" Linda is quick to notice the flutter of fear that flashes across Chloe's face at her inadvertent use of the past tense, and is quick to correct it. "-loves you, he needed to be sure you had the freedom to make your choice, even if it wasn't him. And with so much manipulation from his mother, and apparently attempts from his father too-" 

Chloe pushes her plate away, appetite gone. "So you met the Goddess as well."

"Met is a bit of an understatement. Though I met God too, or at least, part of him."

"You.. you met-" Chloe gapes at her. "Oh. God Johnson, you mean?"

"Yes. A bit of a rough patch for me- I helped Lucifer break out of the institution with him to parent trap the Goddess. I wound up getting investigated by the Ethics board, and later, the Goddess decided to pump me for information on Lucifer's plan by giving me a bit of a barbecue treatment..." Linda's voice is light, but her eyes are heavy with memory.

"Linda-" Chloe reaches out to touch her friend's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine now. The Goddess is gone, and Maze and Amenadiel saved my life that day..." She smiles at the angel across from them, and he reaches over and takes her hand in his.

"Mom's light had begun leaking from her human body. It wasn't able to hold her any longer and she was getting desperate to return to the Silver City. We were trying to assemble the pieces of the Flaming Sword to cut the Gates, but kept hitting roadblocks, and then I-"

"Flaming sword?" Chloe interjects, "How many celestial swords are we dealing with here?"

"Just the one. Azrael's blade was a part of the Flaming Sword that only Lucifer can wield, as the Lightbringer. The artifact that God Johnson found was another piece, and we found out I had the third and final piece, but I... was reluctant to use it."

"Why? If your mother was so desperate, and dangerous, why would you hesitate?"

"We found a text that said the final piece was entrusted to my Father's favorite son, and then realized the piece was my necklace. I... did not want to be responsible for unleashing my Mother upon my Father again. She could have destroyed him."

Another flash of memory. Walking to a crime scene,

_"Leave it to him to turn a compliment into something to angst over. I mean, he should be happy he's Dad's favourite."_

_"Wait, your dad didn't actually tell you guys that, did he?"_

_"Well, in so many Sumerian words, yes._

_"You know, the more I hear about your dad, the more I understand why you're... You know, you."_

"Also, we didn't know at the time that she was bleeding light," Amenadiel continues morosely.

"Yes, that was a fun surprise. She turned up at my office and blasted a hole in my wall after demanding I patch her up... Lucifer found us there."

"Chet Ruiz. She _was_ the one that killed him." Chloe stands and starts moving dishes to the kitchen and the other two trail after her, bringing loads of plates and glasses.

"Yes. But to be fair, it _did_ sound like that was an accident. He apparently stabbed her, and when she removed the knife, her light just, um, spilled out."

"Her _light_ did that to his head?? Linda! Didn't you say she used her light on _you??"_ Chloe gazes at her friend, aghast.

"She did. And if it weren't for Maze and Amenadiel, I wouldn't be here today. They found me, and Amenadiel stopped time to give Maze time to get me to the hospital."

Chloe's eyes slide back to Amenadiel. "I thought you said your powers were gone?"

"They are. I haven't had use of them since that day. But I'm glad I was able to help." Their hands meet, and Chloe looks away from their tender gaze, focusing on the sink of dishes in front of her.

He breaks the silence and continues, "Once Luci told me what was happening with Mom, I told him where to find the piece. He assembled it and managed to use it to cut a hole into an empty universe for Mom to inhabit. Her own place, away from Dad and Earth. Once she was through, he disassembled the sword and tossed most of the pieces through the hole before it closed behind her. When it was over, Charlotte Richards' soul had been returned to her body."

_"Ah! A little wrinkle. You shoot her and we're all dead, okay? Look, it's very difficult to explain, but believe me when I say that there are many, many lives at stake here. So, please, just put the gun down, hmm?"_

"That was on the beach. At Santa Monica Pier?" Lucifer and Charlotte had disappeared when Hector had fired his weapon, and were found on the beach below. 

"That's where Luci said she was, yes."

_"The only thing I still don't understand is you seemed to have some inkling of this from the very beginning, so... Why didn't you let me in on it?"_

_"Well, you..."_

_"'Cause at this point, you either trust me or you don't."_

_"Detective, I trust you..."_

_"Look, if you think that I wouldn't forgive you for your mistakes or your flaws, if you think that I don't know who you really are by now, you're wrong."_

He wasn't wrong. He was exactly right. "And then after that- he was gone again."

_"Hello, it's me. Lucifer. Um, I just wanted to apologize for being, well, for being so elusive. But I also wanted to say that I am done hiding. So I'm coming over now to tell you the truth about me. 'Cause I think it's time I finally opened your eyes as to why strange things sometimes happen around me. Why my brother's so saintly and Maze is so... Not. And I'm so... Well, magnetic. No, but s-seriously, I... I want to tell you everything… No more going backwards."_

"Ooh yes, the devil-napping. He came to visit me in the hospital. I was pretty out of it, but I had the impression he had decided to really show you who he was- is." Linda's hand wraps around her stomach in a protective gesture. "I didn't see him again until I was released, but he made sure I was well taken care of."

"So, he was kidnapped from the hospital? And I didn't believe him, until the body..."

_"I am not lying. Someone kidnapped me. I was outside the hospital, leaving you a message, and someone snatched me..."_

_"So this was about that message. Look, Lucifer, if you regret what you said, if this kidnapping tale is some elaborate distraction, you can just stop. All right? You don't need to tell me anything. I'm no stranger to the drunken dial."_

_"Yes, I have been known to avoid the issue at times, but that is not the case here. Detective, I swear, this is the scene of a despicable crime."_

"Something else happened when he was kidnapped. Didn't it?"

"That's when his wings returned," Linda replies, "He also lost his 'devil face', but he didn't know about that 'til later."

Chloe remembers him trying to show her something in Ella's lab, his confusion when it didn't work. "Yeah- I think I remember that. He tried to show me, and... I guess he couldn't." She wasn't kind to him, then, either. She sighs heavily. "I'm amazed he even bothered with me at all. All I ever did was question him, lecture him, yell at him..."

"No, Chloe, that's not true. You've helped him grow in so many ways! It's because of _you_ that he's come such a long way from the devil he was- to someone that cares about others, actually _helps_ people, even when deals aren't involved. You made him want to be that better version of himself." Amenadiel leans forward, earnest in his defense of her.

_"Do you like work?"_

_“I like work very much. Work... makes me want to be a better man.”_

"Maybe I'm part of his reason, but I think Linda did most of the execution there."

"No," Linda smiles warmly at her. " _Lucifer_ did the execution, all I did was give him the seeds. The growth was all his, and he worked hard for it."

They've finished the dishes now, and move to the settee. Linda checks on Charlie, who is happily burbling at the mobile cheerfully spinning above his playpen. 

A comfortable silence permeates the penthouse as each of the adults gets lost in their own thoughts. Chloe surfaces after a while with a new question.

"Marcus..." She honestly doesn't want to know, but in for a penny, in for a pound.

"Cain." Amenadiel's voice is no longer soft, but hardened.

"Yeah, Lucifer tried to tell me." She's already sick of hearing those words from her lips. "He said he was immortal. We know he was the Sinnerman. Linda- I almost _married him_! You were at my bachelorette party, why didn't you say something?"

"Chloe," Linda doesn't try to touch her bristling friend. "What could I possibly have said? What Lucifer tells me during sessions _has_ to stay there. I can't break that for anything. All I could do was support you the best way I can, by being there for you. I didn't have any interactions with Cain personally."

"Lucifer was trying to help him remove his mark, his curse-" Amenadiel supplies, "-so he could finally die. I tried to stop them from working together, because Cain was marked by Father for a reason. When he finally got rid of it, he got scared and decided to try to get it back-"

"Are we talking about that rat bastard Cain?" Chloe looked up to find Maze stalking toward the settee. "Because I am really kind of over him right now, and if we're talking about him, I'm gonna need a target for my knives."

"I just was asking some questions Maze, hopefully it won't take long?"

Maze glares at the floor, and Linda pats her arm. "Fine. Make it quick, Decker, he's not worth wasting time on."

"He got rid of his mark, his curse? How does that work?"

Amenadiel shifts in his seat. "We don't know for certain, of course, Father doesn't-"

"-Doesn't tell you anything, I know. What's your theory?"

"We _think_ that Father works by what we think we deserve. Cain lost his mark when he felt he had earned his freedom by putting your happiness above his goal of dying. Luci gained his wings and lost his devil face when his sense of self-worth improved after he came up with a solution for Mom-"

"Wait. Okay, I know that his... His devil face was gone, and then it came back with a vengeance- you're saying that that entire thing, his red burned look, is because he sees _himself that way?_ That's not just... How the devil looks?"

"No, of course not." Amenadiel's eyebrows crease, and Maze scoffs aloud. "He looks the way he looks, that's how Mother and Father made him. His other face, that arrived after he Fell... When he felt like a monster deserving of punishment." His voice falls.

"I can tell you that when he landed in Hell, he burned. For a long, long time. I'd never heard screams like that, and Hell is full of screams. He finally dragged himself out of that burning pit looking like a charcoal briquette. As he was healing, he caught his reflection in one of the obsidian walls- that- what he saw is what you see." Maze stands and starts to pace fluidly, snarling. "He never should have gone back without me. He _promised he would never abandon me!"_

"Maze, he didn't abandon you. I think we all know why he didn't want to force you into a decision." Linda's voice is quiet, kind.

"I don't care. I HATE IT." A knife leaves her fingers and quivers in one of the bookshelves.

Chloe leans forward, her face buried in her hands. "His devil face is how he sees himself. It's a reflection of his... Self-image."

_"I've had an epiphany. I hate myself!"_

"What are you aiming at, Chloe?" Linda asks gently.

"That face, that I was so terrified of... It's not his true face at all. And I nearly... I nearly sent him back to Hell for it!" The sobs this time are not silent, nor are they contained.

The others exchange a look among themselves as Chloe struggles to get herself back under control, but nothing breaks the sounds of her ragged breathing. They can't argue with her statement. It's Maze that breaks the stalemate.

"Decker, what matters is that you _didn't_ send him back." She crosses the room and slings a purposefully casual arm around Chloe's hunched shoulders. "You woke up in time, you fixed your mistakes, and you nailed that bastard priest. Lucifer forgave you. You've got to let it go, because he will NOT be pleased if thoughts like those are what drags you down to Hell."

Maze's bald delivery of nothing less than the truth is what allows her to pull in her first steadying breath. Maze doesn't bother to lie to make anyone feel better, so a truth that would serve as a rebuke from anyone else is nothing more or less than bare fact from her.

Chloe reaches up and gives Maze's dangling hand a squeeze. "Lucifer didn't abandon you here, Maze. He has a job for you." Mazikeen's dark eyes lock onto Chloe's blue. "He needs you to keep all of us safe until he can come back."

Their gaze intensifies, and Maze nods once, accepting the mission. Chloe almost feels sorry for any poor sap that puts this family in their sights. Almost.

Charlie starts to fuss then, and the little party starts to break up not long afterward.

Chloe is the last to leave, lingering in his absent presence. She gently tugs the protective sheets back over the settee, and finally the piano, hearing again the ghostly melodies in her head as her fingers smooth the fabric into place. A tear breaks free and skips down her cheek, and she reaches to brush it away, hearing him in her mind as she enters the elevator doors, _"Goodbye, Detective_."

  
He is coming back. And Chloe will be ready when he does. 


	3. Chapter 3

3 months later

Chloe is jolted away from her perusal of the case file glowing on her laptop screen by the trill of her phone, and answers without checking the caller ID.

"Decker." Chloe winces inwardly as she registers the flatness in her voice. Will that ever go away? The only times she's been able to force her voice into some type of normalcy lately is when talking to Trixie, or Charlie. She's so tired of trying to get back to normal. There is no normal, anymore. There's a brief pause on the other end of the line, then Dan's voice fills her ear.

"Hey Chlo'." He does not ask how she's doing. That's a question that only gets broached by either of them when something beyond the obvious is going on. He clears his throat. "I was wondering, could I keep Trixie an extra night tonight? Today is kind of hard, you know, kind of Ch-Charlotte and my first date anniversary? I asked Trix, and she's good if you are..."

Chloe's face crumples, and she's fiercely glad that she is already at home and not still at her desk at work. "Yeah, oh, of course she can stay. I've got something I wanted to do tonight, so that works out fine."

"Hey, Chloe- thank you. Really. I'll come by in the morning to pick up her school stuff?"

"No!" Chloe interjects just a bit too quickly, "I'll, uh, drop it by in a bit, okay Dan? I might be in the office pretty early tomorrow, and want to make sure nothing gets forgotten."

"Thank you, Chloe. It's just so much less... quiet... when it's not just me here." Dan's voice is infused with relief.

"Don't I know it." A small, broken smile flits briefly across Chloe's face and she swallows hard. "I'll see you guys in a little while." 

She disconnects the call and stares at the phone in her hand for a long moment before heading to Trixie's room to gather her daughter's school supplies. Once those are all together, Chloe moves toward her room to grab some supplies of her own, then grabs her keys and points the car toward Dan's apartment.

Traffic in LA is always a mess, and Chloe spends the drive thinking about Trixie. Well, worrying. Having the conversation with her Monkey about... About the situation with Lucifer had been both easier and more difficult than she had thought. She didn't want to lie to Trixie, so she had told her as much of the truth as she could while (hopefully) avoiding nightmares. Trixie, of course, had surpassed all expectations. 

_"But Mommy, we already knew that!" Trixie's tiny face had twisted in confusion as Chloe had stumbled over trying to explain the identity of their friends. "Lucifer doesn't lie! He talks about being the Devil all the time. And Maze, too. That doesn't mean they're not nice, and we can't love them! Even Amenadiel is nice... But he isn't as funny as Lucifer or cool like Maze."_

Chloe's eyes well up and she blinks rapidly to clear them so she can drive. The next part of the conversation had been the truly difficult part, explaining that Lucifer had to go away, to keep them all safe. That he didn't know when he would be able to come back, gently planting the seed that he might not be able to. Trixie had gone quiet during that discussion, eyes large and slowly filling with tears. She had moved into her mother's lap and clung there for a long while. Chloe rocking them both and stroking her hair- trying so hard to hold both of them together as tears leaked down both faces.

Oh, she did not want to plant that seed, and certainly did not want it to grow, choking out hope and love like a noxious vine. Finally, Trixie had pulled away, and her red-rimmed chocolate eyes had met her mother's red-rimmed blue ones. 

_"Lucifer will come back, Mommy. He loves us. And we all need each other. He can't stay away."  
With that, she had moved slowly into her bedroom and slid the door shut. Chloe had hovered outside the doorway for quite some time, listening to the rustling of Trixie getting into bed, and then the quiet, snuffling sobs that shredded her already bleeding heart afterward._

She parks the cruiser in front of Dan's building, and takes a few steadying breaths before exiting the car. Social interaction definitely takes more preparation these days, she's getting load of practice with pulling her public face into place and keeping it there until she's alone again. She approaches the door, takes a final breath and knocks as she plasters a small approximation of a smile in place.  
Dan answers the door, aiming a residual frown at the cell phone in his hand as he steps back to allow Chloe entrance to his slightly cramped apartment.

"You okay?" She follows his gaze to the phone as Trixie runs to greet her with a characteristic exuberant hug.

"Yeah, no, it's fine. Ella's been checking up on me lately, but she's just mentioned that she's worried about her brother. Jay?"

"The diamond guy?" Jay had been involved as a suspect in a case a while back, but was cleared of any charges. That's the last Chloe had heard about him. 

"Yeah." Dan shrugs, and takes the profferred backpack. "Not sure what the deal is yet, though. Thanks for bringing her school supplies, and for letting me keep Trix again tonight."

Chloe wraps her arms around her daughter a little tighter and swings her playfully from side to side as Trixie giggles with her head pressed to her mother's midriff. "Not a problem, Dan. I know Trixie enjoys her time with you, too. And I can get some stuff done that I've been putting off. I'll have my cell on me if you need anything, okay?"

Dan nods, and Chloe drops a kiss on top of Trixie's head before departing.

Chloe starts her cruiser and pulls into traffic, breathing a sigh of relief as she heads for the place she's been missing most, Lux.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe has some me time working on a case. Maybe she draws a little help.

The elevator ding quietly announces her arrival at Lucifer's penthouse apartment, and she steps out the moment the doors glide open. She brushes her fingers against the wall plate and the root-shaped light fixture above and the fireplace immediately flare to life. She tries to spend some time here at least once a week, but it has been too long this time, nearly three since her last visit. She feels her constantly tense muscles loosen a bit as she embarks on her rounds.

First stop, as always, remove the protective cover from the piano. Chloe lifts the cover and runs her fingers silently along the keys before moving along to unveil the rest of the furniture. She inhales deeply as her fingers trail over the keys, enjoying being surrounded by the familiar scents of her partner - sandalwood, aged scotch, and something crisp and light that she still can't quite identify. She lightly presses one key and lets the gentle tone waver in the stillness for a moment before gently closing the cover and moving further into the apartment to remove the rest of the dust coverings from the furniture.

An hour later, and Chloe is comfortably curled on the settee dressed in one of Lucifer's shirts with her laptop and a tumbler of dangerously smooth bourbon, engrossed in the same case file she was reviewing when Dan had called. She has yet to be assigned a new full-time partner at the precinct, honestly, she really hasn't made any effort to even be cordial to the few officers brave enough to offer to work cases with her. She's worked a few with Dan, and of course Ella is always willing to help her with forensics, but for the most part she remains aloof from the bulk of the police force.  
This particular case, she's working alone. Something keeps drawing Chloe back to the file, a feeling that she's missing something important. She likes bringing these cases here, often talking through them aloud in the hopes of making that missing connection that Lucifer so often helped with. More often than not, it works.

"Jocelyn Miranda, 37, found murdered in the driver's seat of her own car. Ella says COD is internal blood loss due to blunt force trauma to the head, both front and back. Best guess so far is that a passenger in the car gave her a serious whack on the back of the head and she slammed into the steering wheel causing the frontal trauma."

She reaches for her tumbler and slowly swirls it, letting the heat from her hand bring out the scent of the alcohol inside. "There was obviously no vehicle accident, the car itself had zero damage. We haven't found a weapon yet, nor any witness beyond the man who found and reported the body. The vehicle had been parked in Ms. Miranda's marked parking space at her place of work, and the body was discovered by an observant administrative assistant that noticed her absence from work, but then spotted her car in the parking lot on his way out of work that evening." She goes through the file, point by point, fact by fact, letting the soft flicker of the fireplace and the gentle spreading warmth in her stomach from the bourbon relax her body while her brain kicks into gear. After awhile, the niggling feeling of missing something hasn't gone away, but her eyes are drooping and she's finding it difficult to focus, so she sets down the laptop, not bothering to close it. She moves up the stairs to the bedroom and turns down the crisp sheets before briefly stepping out onto the balcony to enjoy the view. Her heart twists every time she steps foot out here, remembering... but she can't give up the view. Or the memory. 

_"It was you, Chloe. It always has been."_

A few moments later, eyes a bit misty, she is burying her face into Lucifer's pillow. Someone still comes regularly to do cleaning and changing of the linens, stocking the kitchen and other light chores, yet somehow, even empty, this place still feels like him. Like he's not completely gone from her.

She pulls the pillow to her, wrapping herself around it before pulling the covers up and surrendering to sleep. As she drops into her dreams, she murmurs aloud, "I miss you.."

Her dreams are gentle enough that she doesn't wake through the night, something that really only happens when she sleeps here, now. At home, she is plagued by nightmares that she doesn't retain when she wakes, only that she is terrified and gasping when she lurches from their grip. She drifts slowly into wakefulness to the early morning sun streaming in across her face, a soft breeze ruffling her tousled hair and presenting her with a tantalizing whiff of Lucifer-ness that she can only catch here. 

_Hmm. Must have left the balcony door open._

She gives her pillow cuddle buddy a final squeeze before patting it gently back into its place, and stretches up and out of bed before padding back into the main area where her laptop remains. She touches the mousepad to deactivate sleep mode, then goes to make herself some coffee and breakfast as she waits for it to come alive. Fifteen minutes later she's back at it with an enormous mug of coffee and a bacon sandwich, looking a bit closer at the assistant, whose profile was maximized on the screen when it woke. 

_Must have hit Maximize Window when I brought it out of sleep mode. Oh. Interesting. He doesn't have a car registered in his name. If he doesn't drive, why was he going through the employee parking garage? Ride pickup and public transport are at the front of the building itself, not the garage..._ Chloe's mouth twists in an almost-smile. Time for another interview.

Late that afternoon, Chloe is wrapping up the case at her desk. On second interview, the assistant, Marco Spencer, had crumpled like a wet paper bag. He and Jocelyn had been in a secret relationship for several months. They kept it hidden because workplace romance was grounds for termination, but did occasionally carpool to the office. That particular morning they had had a fight on the drive in, and Jocelyn had threatened to out the relationship and get Marco fired. He had swung in her direction, apparently intending to miss, but claiming to forget having his heavy briefcase in his hand. Chloe isn't sure she believes that part, but they got their confession, and the rest is up to the lawyers once she finishes her paperwork. 

She closes the file folder and looks up in time to spot Ella coming from her lab. Ella catches her look and detours to Chloe's desk, stopping next to the vacant spare chair, but hesitant to sit in it.

"Hey Chloe, I heard you wrapped up the Miranda case, nice work." Ella is fidgety, but seems a bit subdued from her normal energetic self, and Chloe suddenly remembers her worry about her brother.

"Yeah, it was pretty open and shut, really. Do you wanna sit for a minute?" Chloe gestures to the empty chair, Lucifer's chair, and Ella slowly sinks down into it. "What's up, girl? Talk to me. You've not been yourself today."

Ella sits in silence for a moment, staring down at her clasped hands, then lifts her eyes to meet Chloe's. Tears are sparkling on her lashes, and she takes a quavering breath before starting to share her story.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer POV! This story is not leaving me alone for the moment. I hope if you read it, you enjoy it. I'm not a writer...

Lucifer had thought he hated Hell before he left it. Well, all right, he did hate it. Quite a lot, in fact. What he hadn't realized was how much worse it would be to go back, to stay, after his all too brief reprieve. Leaving his friends. Family now, even. And his Detective.

**His Chloe.**

He sits in his towering throne, guarding the gates of Hell against any demons attempting to escape to the Earthly plane. He spends decades building ranks of demons that he dares not trust, but can at least count on to do their set duties and help keep the rest in line. Dromos and Squee were the first two to meet justice once he returned. Lucifer's stomach turns at the punishment he needed to set, to ensure no others decided to take their initiative. At quieter times, when the screams and straining chains lull, he can hear their agonized keening from his precarious perch on his throne. At least it appears to be working. No one has tried to cross the planes since he has been back. 

_"You want to be good."_

It has been a century in Hell, since he's returned. There's no set correlation in time between Hell and Earth- time in Hell is warped, it loops and circles in on itself incessantly. He can feel his mental grip slipping.

_"You can't outrun what you've done, what you truly are." **"Neither can you."**_

Cain's choking voice echoes through his mind, mocking. He growls to himself and adjusts his cufflinks. His suit is a tattered wreck, burning embers and hot ash have taken their toll, despite his attempts at fastidiousness. 

He needs... Well. He needs Chloe, but that option is non-existent. Desperate, he continues to hold his guardianship out of sheer will, as he attempts to rebuild his inner walls that had protected him so well before.

Another century passes, and his inner walls are in no better shape, and have possibly crumbled even further. He is still winning his war. The demons rarely try to harm him, and even less often do they succeed. His wrath is terrible, and fortunately most demons are cowardly and opportunistic. But his time on Earth has indeed changed him, and the transition back to Hell's law is not sitting well. He keeps fighting, but he is losing his inner battle not to hear Chloe's voice in his head, admonishing him for the harsh punishments he must mete. Losing, because as much pain as it causes him to imagine what she would have to say about his choices, he wants to hear her voice so very badly. Finally, he gives in and asks Amenadiel to make a visit. He needs to discuss an amendment to their arrangement.


	6. Chapter 6

"Lucifer." Amenadiel's deep soothing tone sounds like music to Lucifer, who has heard nothing but discordant screams and clashes of blades and claws for the last couple of centuries.

"Amenadiel! I would say welcome, Brother, but we both know neither one of us wishes you to be here." Lucifer extends a hand and clasps Amenadiel's shoulder warmly, belying his seemingly harsh words.

"Nevertheless, I am come. I agree to this arrangement. You have come too far to go back now, and I would not have it so if it is within my power to affect it."

Lucifer suppresses a smile, for the first time in, well, ages. His escape will be brief, fleeting, really, but if it works, he may manage to hold onto his sanity for awhile longer. 

_Lucifer's hands pressed together in front of his chest as he sat on his uncomfortable throne.  
'Brother, you know that I do not like to ask favors. But I wonder if we could broker a small deal?'  
He had felt Amenadiel's surprise at his contact, and attention.  
'We have already ironed out the humans whose behavior I have asked you to monitor and report to me if problems arise. I would like to propose an addition to this, but it will require... Rather more action on your part than you may be willing to offer.'  
'What are you asking, Lucifer? Speak plainly.'  
'I... You were right. I have changed since I had my vacation. I am finding the transition back to demonic law a tad more difficult than I anticipated. I would ask to make a deal with you, to help me guard Hell so I can continue having sessions with Dr. Linda. I think... I think I need her help, Amenadiel. And yours.'_

_Lucifer had felt Amenadiel's astonishment at his request- at the_ humility _of his request- through their Angelic link. But he was taken aback at the faint warmth of actual affection that followed on its heels._

_'Let me consult with Linda, Brother, and then I will come to you so we can discuss this face to face.'_

_Amenadiel had severed the link then, and Lucifer had waited anxiously for weeks before Amenadiel's resulting visit._

"I... Thank you, Amenadiel. I promise I'll not keep you from your family any longer than absolutely necessary." Lucifer graces his brother with a small smirk. "And you know how strict Dr. Linda is about her schedule!"

Amenadiel casts his eyes upwards with a wide smile of his own, and makes a shooing motion at Lucifer. "The relevant information is in the location we discussed?" At Lucifer's affirmative nod, he continues, "Then go, Brother. Tell Charlie I'll be home soon."

Lucifer's wings are unfurled and he is on his way as Amenadiel finishes his statement, each brother eager to make good on his end of their deal.


	7. Chapter 7

Two months after Lucifer left for Hell, his first new session with Dr. Linda took place.

The good Doctor had kindly offered to attend to Lucifer's sessions whenever he happened to arrive on Earth, no matter the time of day. Neither Lucifer nor Amenadiel were willing to agree to that condition. Knowing how difficult it would be to judge time slippage between dimensions, the brothers agreed it would be best to set a time, and just work for Lucifer to arrive as close to that time as possible. They made certain that Lucifer would have enough time to change from his Hell-devastated attire into something more fitting for human observation, and agreed that Lucifer would return to Hell within the hour after his sessions ended to relieve Amenadiel of Hell's guardianship. 

These sessions were painful, incredibly so, but he can't deny they're also vital. After his first, nearly disastrous session, Dr. Linda had flatly demanded that he present himself for therapy no less than once per Earth week. She had actually pushed for more, since much more time was passing on the other end- but Lucifer would not stand for pulling Amenadiel away more often. He appreciates the help immensely, but each time he returns to Hell resuming the mantle of leadership weighs slightly more heavily on him.

He hadn't been late for a session yet, but sometimes this arrangement resulted in Lucifer arriving on Earth nearly a day prior to his appointment. For Lucifer, these were the hardest visits. He would arrive on his balcony, immediately shower to remove the Hell residue and choose a new suit once his grooming rituals were completed. And then, he would wait.

 _What is that human adage, about the Devil and idle hands?_ He thinks to himself wryly, running his hands over the piano keys, coaxing a somber melody from the instrument to match his mood. He takes a mouthful of Laphroaig, followed by a drag of the cigarette softly burning in the ashtray, the only current source of light in the room, aside from the light filtering in from the city far below. He had arrived over a day early for this, his fourth appointment. Their timing was a bit off because Amenadiel wanted to address some questions about situations Lucifer was handling and had arrived earlier than usual.

Being here on Earth for any length of time was always bittersweet. He has been adamant that the Detective cannot know about his occasional all-too-brief forays to Earth, so he has to take care that he isn't seen. It hurts to be here, but to be temporarily free of Hell, even for a few hours...

Both Amenadiel and the Doctor were strangely reticent about his Detective condition of his continuing therapy. It took quite a lot of persuasion, and finally an ultimatum, to convince them that it was best for the both of them to make the break as clean as possible. He can't be away from Hell any longer than absolutely necessary for his therapy sessions, and seeing the Detective for only a few minutes every 25 years or so would only be a new form of torture. One that would have a very good chance at breaking them both, possibly beyond all hope of repair or recovery.

_Chloe deserves more, to be able to move on. She is human, humans forget so easily._

__

__

He forcibly pulls his thoughts away from the Detective. Again. And stubbornly pursues his other task for this visit. As part of his initial deal with his brother, Lucifer had provided a list of people for Amenadiel to keep tabs on, ones that- for one reason or another- Lucifer had made promises or vows to, or about. Amenadiel had brought him some disquieting information about one Jay Lopez during this visit. 

Jay was fairly low-level on Lucifer's concerns, but the Devil had made a promise that he would follow up if Jay proved himself unworthy of his sister's faith again, and Miss Lopez was fairly high in Lucifer's esteem. And now, it seemed, Jay had done a bunk. Lucifer had spent some of his extra time today attempting to track Jay down and assure his continued good behavior for Miss Lopez's sake. He has been unsuccessful thus far, and intends to rectify that tomorrow before his appointment with Dr. Linda.

He sits at the piano, lost in thoughts of the avenues he would take to find Mr. Lopez when a strange sensation in his fingers makes him look down at his hand, still holding the smoldering cigarette. The cigarette had burned down to the filter, and a small burn is developing on the skin where it was pressed between his fingers. He stares for a moment, uncomprehending. Near-panic envelopes him at the realization, the Detective is here! He leaps from the bench, a whirlwind of activity to conceal the evidence of his presence, even going so far as to unfurl his wings to disperse the scent of the smoke. He whisks the dust cover onto the piano, tucks his wings away and, feeling a bit ridiculous, retreats to the shadows in the far corner of the room.

As the elevator chimes and the door slides open, he has never been more thankful for his innate ability to fade, not invisible- but unseen, into his surroundings. It's not an ability he has used often on Earth, preferring to be at the center of attention whenever possible. But there are times when it has proven invaluable- that ability to be present, but unnoticed.

His breath catches as her too-familiar, slightly floral scent escapes the elevator ahead of her. The lights spring to life and he reserves only enough faculty to retain his hold on the fade, dedicating the rest of his attention to how she looks entering his domain in this moment, unguarded.

He watches, puzzled, as she removes the freshly-replaced dust cloth from the piano, lifts the fallboard and trails her fingers over the keys his own fingers were caressing mere moments ago. He can hear her breathing in deeply as she pauses a moment there and can see her posture change as she seems to relax. One finger depresses a key and the pure note sings for a moment before fading into silence, and she moves further into the apartment, removing the dustproofing and touching things seemingly at random, completing some ritual known only to her.

He can't move closer and hold the fade in place, so he waits where he is, rigid as a marble statue as she sets up a small workspace on the settee and disappears into his bedroom. He breathes a sigh of relief at his fastidious nature- she will find no proof of recent occupation there. He takes the opportunity to move while she is out of the room, and positions himself out of the way, near the bedroom entrance. He can't use the elevator now, but perhaps he can get to the balcony and escape that way, since she appears to be making a visit of some duration.

 _What is she doing here?_ Seeing her is doing terrible, wonderful things to his insides, which seem to be on the fence between being shredded by a demon blade and puddling into a spreading pleasant warmth. He is trying to focus on how to make his escape, when she reappears, walking past his for-all-intents-and-purposes virtually invisible self in one of his shirts, and settles down onto the couch, curling her legs underneath her and pulling her laptop into place.

Despite his rising anxiety, he smiles to himself. _What_ is _it with this woman and MY shirts?_ It's oversized on her of course, his shoulders being so much broader and his torso much longer. The hem of the shirt nearly reaches her knees and the cuffs trail down nearly over her hands. When she tucks up her legs, she all but disappears beneath it. 

_I'll go in a moment. Once she's ensconced in her project,_ he tells himself. _Just another moment._ He can see the screen from where he's hidden from plain sight. He nearly jumps from his skin when she speaks to him.

"Jocelyn Miranda, 37, found murdered in the driver's seat of her own car. Ella says COD is internal blood loss due to blunt force trauma to the head, both front and back. Best guess so far is that a passenger in the car gave her a serious whack on the back of the head and she slammed into the steering wheel causing the frontal trauma."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer's fading talent is not something that's addressed in the show, but I am convinced it exists. There are too many times where he appears to be unnoticed in plain sight (ie at the precinct when he's waiting to ambush the fake Sinnerman), or disappears abruptly (like the interrogation room with Nick, or several times when he's been talking to someone, then is suddenly gone). It exists. I'm using it. :)


	8. Chapter 8

He's nearly stammering a response when she reaches for her glass and continues, "There was obviously no vehicle accident, the car itself had zero damage. We haven't found a weapon yet, nor any witness beyond the man who found and reported the body. The vehicle had been parked in Ms. Miranda's marked parking space at her place of work, and the body was discovered by an observant administrative assistant that noticed her absence from work, but then spotted her car in the parking lot on his way out of work that evening."

A wave of intense relief washes over him. She's talking to herself, not to him. This relief is followed nearly immediately by an equally strong wave of regret. _Does she not have anyone to talk her cases over with? WHY does she not?_

The Detective continues her case analysis as she slowly empties her glass, and Lucifer stands an unseen sentinel to her process, drinking in her oblivious presence. Eventually, she seems talked out. Yawning, she shifts the laptop and stands, making her way past him to the bedroom again. He watches her go, but dares not move. After a few minutes, he hears the balcony door open, and he takes the opportunity to cross the room to the laptop. He peruses the case file and verifies a thought that had occurred as the Detective was detailing the case. The observant assistant... 

_I'll just leave his information up here. I think if the Detective looks at it again, she'll see what she's missing._

He startles as he hears the balcony door close, and tries not to consider the rustling sounds as she settles herself into his bed. Which side is she laying on? _No, that way lies madness._ He waits on the settee, feeling the leather underneath him still warm from her presence, for her movements to still. Just when he thinks it may be safe to run, a blade inserts itself into his heart and twists.

"I miss you."

It's nearly silent, barely anything more than an exhalation, but his ears have no trouble catching it. He sits back, inhaling through the pain that threatens to pull his shattered heart from his chest. 

He sits through the night, listening to her deep, even breathing with his elbows on his knees, hands bracing his forehead. Carefully picking up the pieces of his walls and trying to stuff them back in place. His head pops up when he hears her emit a distressed keening and he finds himself beside the bed without any conscious decision to actually move. 

Chloe is curled on her right side, wrapped around his pillow and squeezing as though she's holding on for dear life. Her breaths come shallow and sweat is just starting to bead at her temples. Without thinking, he reaches down and trails his fingertips along her brow, watching in rapt fascination as the worry lines melt away beneath them, and she settles almost immediately. 

"There, now." He murmurs, barely more than an audible rumble. She turns her head a bit to follow his hand as he moves away, and he allows himself to cup her cheek briefly before clenching his hand at his side with a firm, silent admonition to _stay there_. "Sleep, Detective. You are safe."

A deep breath from her, and her grip on the pillow relaxes enough that he's no longer worried about its fate. A faint smile pulls at the corner of his mouth as he turns away and exits to the balcony. 

He passes the remainder of the evening here, watching his stars as the Detective lightly snores and snuffles in the room behind him. Alternately internally cursing and resolutely NOT pleading with his father about the untenable situation he has found himself in.

Just past sunrise, he allows himself one final glimpse into his bedroom, just cracking the balcony door open and glancing inside before taking his leave. Something to try to wash away his last view of her standing in this very spot with tearstained cheeks, eyes closed, unable to even look at him, bereft. 

This is a much better memory to take with him. She is relaxed, tousled, washed golden in the morning sun, body wrapped around his pillow, in his bed. Yes. Infinitely preferable to miserable, crying and alone.

Something that is definitely not a sob, thank you very much, catches in his throat, and he turns away, unfurling his wings and vaulting off the balcony to start his search for the elusive Mr. Lopez.

He arrives to his afternoon appointment with Dr. Linda in a state of agitation, still having little luck tracking down the errant Lopez sibling and thoroughly repressing thoughts of Chloe Decker coming into his home to hang out in his clothing and sleep in his bed while he is gone.

He apologizes, as always, for keeping Amenadiel from home longer than usual, and Linda, as always, graciously acknowledges the apology and brushes it aside as entirely unnecessary before getting the session started in earnest.

Typical discussion topics have shifted from his sessions before, which largely focused on the Detective and his emotions when dealing with her and others. Now the primary points are typically trauma mitigation and maintaining, or attempting to maintain, sanity in literal Hellish conditions. Linda helps Lucifer set his mind toward goals for Hell, while helping him deal with the decisions he has to make and try to maintain, or at least not lose too much ground with the considerable emotional growth he had managed over the past several years as her patient. 

Their time, as always, stretches up to the very last moments, even though Linda specifically schedules Lucifer for a double session at the end of the day. He manages to avoid any mention of seeing Chloe at the penthouse, but does give Linda some details on the search for Jay, as an explanation for what he has done with his extra Earth time. Linda promises to follow up with Ella discreetly, indicating that a Tribe night may be in order soon.

Lucifer takes his leave of the Doctor, reiterating as always that he will be back in Hell and returning Amenadiel to her and Charlie within the hour, but he does need to stop at the precinct to check on Ella himself. He can't do any more about Jay this visit, but hopefully he can dredge up some more information for Amenadiel to follow up on, as his agent, until his next visit.

A mere brush of wings later, and Lucifer is fading through the precinct toward Ella's lab. It's late, and nearly all the day workers are gone, but Ella always stays late. He enters the bullpen and is halfway through it before he registers that Miss Lopez is indeed there, eyes sparkling with tears, seated in his old chair at the Detective's desk. He freezes in place, but Chloe is speaking in earnest to Ella. Ella looks up at Chloe, releases a shaky breath, and starts talking.


	9. Chapter 9

Lucifer stops in place a dozen feet from the desk, focused intently on Ella's story.

"It's my brother, you remember Jay?" She swallows hard, as Chloe nods and lays a hand on her forearm in support. "He came out to visit, remember, he moved back to Detroit? We had lunch a couple of days ago, and were supposed to go out for drinks last night, but he totally bailed on me! Now he's not responding to calls or texts, and I tried the hotel, but couldn't get a live human on the line. I'm worried about him, Chloe. Last time he ghosted me, he wound up part of a MURDER investigation, and I can't afford to hire Maze again!" Ella follows up with an enormous sniffle and a couple of tears break free of her lashes and dash down her cheeks.

"I totally understand being worried! But we can't file a missing persons report yet since it's been less than a day, so let's see if we can find him first. What hotel is he staying at?" Chloe leans forward, eyes focused, ready to go into interview mode.

"The Del Rio, on Esperanza Drive-"

Chloe is about to make her response when a distracted uni with a handcuffed suspect slams into Lucifer hard enough to stagger them both backward with an exclamation of surprise. Ella looks up, wet eyes wide in recognition, and Chloe's head swivels to the disturbance, jaw dropping and Lucifer's name falling silently from her lips. Lucifer freezes, deer-in-the-headlights style for a split second before regaining control of the fade and quickly unfurling his wings to make his escape, cursing vehemently under his breath all the way.

"Luc-? Did you just see-? Um, wait. El-Ella..."

"Lucifer! Yeah. Yeah I did. How did he? You said he..."

Both women begin to talk over each other at once, as the baffled uni takes her cuffed charge once more and moves toward an interrogation room.

Chloe's eyes feel as though they're about to fall out of her head. A soft breeze washes over her carrying the scent of Lucifer's cologne, and she stops herself from vaulting to the spot where Lucifer had been only by sheer force of will. Ella, however, has no such restraint, she's standing in his place, looking all around as if he'll materialize, or pop out from behind Maloney's desk with a spiked Unicorn Frappe for her. The two friends gape wordlessly at each other for a long moment, before they make a silent shared decision that it is most definitely time for a drink. Ella texts Maze and Chloe texts Linda on their way to the parking garage. Of course they're meeting at Lux.

***********

Linda's unable to find a sitter for Charlie, but can tell that something is upsetting her friends. She invites her Tribe mates over for drinks instead, and even though that isn't where Chloe wants to be - she really wants to go back to Lux and see if Lucifer is there- she goes to Linda's. 

_Lucifer is not at Lux. He's not there. He's not anywhere._

Chloe and Ella arrive at the Martin residence, and are greeted at the door by Maze with an indifferent "Hey" and a nonchalant wave toward the interior. Charlie is sprawled on an activity mat in the living room, chubby cheeks wide in a toothless grin and bouncing up on his elbows occasionally.

Ella settles down to play with him while Chloe wanders into the kitchen and is greeted warmly by Linda as she is arranging some wine glasses and snacks.

"Chloe! Thanks for changing plans a bit so I can participate in Tribe night. Amenadiel's out, and I can't just bring myself to trust Charlie with anyone outside our circle..."

Chloe raises her hand to ward off the implied apologies. "Don't even worry about it, Linda, thanks for being willing to hostess in an emergency! What can I help with?" She paces the kitchen, brimming with unspent restless energy like-

"My goodness, Chloe, you're pacing like Lucifer! Here, take these glasses into the sitting room and I'll-" the sentence tapers off as Linda turns and sees that Chloe has just burst into silent tears. "Whoa, okay. Easy there girl, what is going on?"

Chloe shakes her head, and begins to answer when Maze stalks into the kitchen, stopping short at Chloe's display. "Decker? Linda! What did you do?" She sounds impressed.

Linda stares at Maze, baffled, before turning a concerned look on Chloe, edging closer and sliding an arm across her shoulders. Chloe pulls her hands from her face and throws herself into Linda, really sobbing now, but still eerily quiet. Her chest catches and hitches as Linda wraps her arms around Chloe in a gentle embrace and murmurs calming platitudes.

"Hey, my ladies. Charlie just fell asleep, so what can I help with -oh." Ella bustles into the kitchen and stops cold when she sees Chloe clinging to Linda. "I guess she told you what we just saw at the precinct, then? Or, well... Who, anyway."

Linda's hands are full, but Maze swings toward Ella, gesturing toward Chloe in full protective mode. "Who did this? Dan? I'll gut him. Decker, you can watch."

"Nnn-" Chloe makes a negative sound, trying to get in front of Maze's rage before she can go off half-cocked, but can't get a full breath of air to complete the word. "Nn-no, Maze. Dan didn't do anything, no one did anything. I'm just a mess, that's all. We were at the precinct talking, and suddenly Lucifer was there. But, then he wasn't. But.. we BOTH saw him, so he was THERE, only he couldn't have been because he's in- - and..." A fresh sob shakes her and she stops speaking to try to gather some composure.

Linda has gone very still against Chloe. "What were you talking about, before you both saw him?"

"It wasn't anything about him, Linda, so it wasn't just wishful thinking on our part!" Ella steps in when Chloe can't speak. "We were talking about my brother, nothing even remotely resembling Lucifer, he just appeared out of the blue. Then... Disappeared back into it?" She trails off, confused. "I mean, he was literally in the middle of the room, I have no idea how he pulled it off."

Now Maze has gone still. Eyes wide, she slides her gaze to Linda's face, silently mouthing Lucifer's name. Chloe manages to suck in a deeper breath and pulls away from Linda's loose embrace, plucking a tissue from the counter and starting to try to repair the tear damage. "I'm sorry guys, I really didn't mean to lose it on you. But Ella's right, that's exactly what we saw."

Linda moves around the kitchen, pouring the wine, then goes to the doorway to check Charlie before positioning herself at the edge of the group nearest the sleeping angel-baby. Chloe takes a steadying sip of the crisp white wine, and lets out her breath slowly.

"So you were talking about your brother, Ella? Carlos?"

"Nah, Jay." A slight frown creases her brow. "He came to visit, and he's disappeared. Not answering his phone... Chloe and I were about to work out a plan to see if we could find him, when BAM! Lucifer flickered in and out like static."

"He was there. I could even smell his cologne," Chloe adds quietly. 

Linda and Maze are uncharacteristically quiet at this revelation, but were saved from needing to make an immediate response by Amenadiel's arrival.

"Linda? I just- oh. Hello Ella." A brief hesitation, "Chloe. How are you ladies tonight?" Amenadiel stops at the entrance to the kitchen where the Tribe has gathered, and Chloe catches a brief whiff of something sulfuric. Amenadiel looks exhausted, and decidedly disheveled.

"Amenadude! We just saw your brother at the precinct! Just for, like a hot second, but he was here!" Ella practically pounced toward him, pulling him further into the room. "And we- oh wow buddy you look _rough_. You okay? Why do you smell like my old chemistry set?"

"Funny you say that, I thought I saw someone that looked exactly like him the other day!" Amenadiel dissembles, "I, ah, I walked past some road construction a bit ago, the asphalt had an odd odor to it, that must be what you're smelling. I should, ah, go and shower." He angled a meaningful 'we'll talk later' look at Linda, Maze, and Chloe as he exits the room. "Always a pleasure to see you, ladies."


	10. Chapter 10

_Bollocks. Great mangled_ pustulent _bloody bollocks_.

If only Chloe, or only Ella had glimpsed him, it might not have been a problem, but he is fairly bloody certain that both of them had managed to spy him when he lost his grip on his fade. He uses his remaining 20 minutes on Earth to stop briefly at the Del Rio Hotel and check with the clerk on the status of Mr. Jay Lopez.

 _At least this time he signed in under his own bloody name,_ Lucifer grumbles internally.

The clerk is a vapid woman in her mid-sixties, no challenge at all to gain entry to Jay's room. Lucifer does a whirlwind tour, seeing no sign of struggle, nor obviously missing items that could indicate he had, in fact, simply run out.

Well, he's run out of time but at least he can provide Amenadiel with an update for when he gets back. Lucifer makes sure the hotel room is locked, unfurls his wings, and takes a final deep breath of non-sulfuric air before he crosses the dimensional plane back to Hell to relieve his brother.

He lands outside the cavern that passes for his office, and strides in the door to find Amenadiel bent over his desk making notes.

"Thank you yet again, brother, I've got some news for you before you go back, if you have a moment."

Amenadiel stands from the desk, looking a bit haggard from the demands of the throne. Lucifer starts to make a comment about looking like hell, but keeps his commentary to himself with some effort. After all, Amenadiel could choose to end this arrangement at any time, despite Linda's insistence that Lucifer continue his sessions.

 _And she's right. I do need them. Which means I need him, and his help_.

The original deal that he had reached with Amenadiel had merely involved Amenadiel keeping loose watch over a small handful of people that Lucifer had interest in- either personal, or ones that he had made a vow or promise to. Jay Lopez fell in that category, as Lucifer had promised that he would be watching to make sure Jay did not disappoint his sister yet again. In return, Amenadiel would receive a generous stipend for all his Earthly expenses.

 _Because obviously he is not suited to holding an actual human job_ , Lucifer smirks to himself.

This deal, for time and assistance had taken a long time for Lucifer to even consider proposing. He had thought long and hard about every possible option- and even the non-viable options- for nearly two centuries before swallowing some of his pride and admitting that he needed the help. Lucifer had thought Amenadiel would never agree, no matter what he offered, but it seems he had misjudged his earnest brother. Or perhaps, misjudged the influence that Linda had on him...

_Or perhaps he and Linda are simply so grateful that you are back in Hell where you belong, that they will do anything to keep you there. To keep their son safe by keeping you locked away._

He presses his lips into a thin line and seeks to heave that line of thought back into the pit from whence it sprang. Shaking his head, he gestures Amenadiel back onto the chair-shaped slab of obsidian.

"Would you like to go first, or shall I?"

Amenadiel smiles wanly. "I think we have managed to end the skirmish with Azazel's outliers. Kregin's team finally brought in the heads of the last ones we know about, anyway."

Lucifer nods, the problem with Azazel had gone on for far too long. Fury washes through him again at the memory of the fanatics breaking into the lower-priority cells- souls that felt guilty enough for things they had no actual control over that they sent themselves to Hell- and torturing them far beyond anything they could ever deserve. The entire band had scattered and hidden when his wrath had shaken the pillars of Hell. If it was finally dealt with then he could breathe a bit easier.

"Good riddance. Anything else pressing?"

"No. The last head was delivered over a month ago, aside from that it's been Hell as usual. You said you have news for me?"

"Probably less, and more, than you would like, dear brother." Lucifer sighs. "I was unable to locate Jay, but I know he's been staying at the Del Rio Hotel on Esperanza, room 188. His room appears in order, perhaps he hasn't done a bunk after all, but may be in some kind of trouble. If you wouldn't mind seeing if you can track him down when you get back... Hire Maze if you like, just please don't let her stab him. Unless he deserves it of course, but I do think Miss Lopez would prefer her brother remain in an _unperforated_ state."

Amenadiel nods his acceptance of the request and assignment. "You said there was more?"

Lucifer's brows draw together. "I'm afraid you have a small amount of fuss headed your way when you return. I did not intend to, but I- I saw the Detective during this visit-"

"Luci-" Amenadiel begins to interrupt, but Lucifer bulls ahead.

"And she and Miss Lopez saw me as well. I was at the precinct trying to obtain a lead on Mr. Lopez. An officer walked right into me, and I lost grip on my fade. They both saw me before I was able to escape."

Amenadiel lets out a distressed sigh. "Oh, Luci. I wish you would just talk-"

"I CANT BLOODY WELL TALK TO HER! _I can't_. There is nothing to say, beyond goodbye, which has already been said." Lucifer's face is set like diamond, he cannot show weakness on this, in this place. "I regret that it happened, but I hope I can avoid any further transgressions. I cannot give her false hopes that I can ever return." He squeezes his eyes shut, and raises a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. The other hand is clenched into a fist at his side. "I think that's all of importance, Brother. You should be getting back to your family."

Amenadiel steps forward to clasp his brother's shoulder. "I'll see you next week."

Lucifer forces a tight smile. "Yes, see you in a couple dozen years or so."

Amenadiel launches away, and Lucifer sinks onto the obsidian slab. He gives himself a moment, _just a moment_ , to rest his forehead in his hands, remembering sitting on his settee, still warm from the Detective sitting there before him. Remembering her sleeping form curled around his pillow bathed in the light of the sunrise. And her astonished face at the precinct, his name forming silently on her lips.

"Bloody _hell._ "

He resolutely pushes the memories back into their caverns in his mind, and turns to review his brother's notes from his absence.


	11. Chapter 11

Chloe narrows her eyes at Amenadiel's retreating back as he turns to go, and starts to pursue him when she feels a hand on her arm. She slides the accusing look to Linda's face. "You know something." The flatness is back in her voice, all emotion drained out with the flood of tears. "Spill. Now."

"Chloe-"

"Okay Decker, here's the deal. Amenadiel and Linda are bound by oath not to talk about this. But..." Maze gives a lazily wicked grin, "Nobody bothered to swear this demon to secrecy."

 _"Maze!"_ Linda admonishes, scandalized.

"What? It's not my fault you guys forget I'm here when you're having your little conferences-"

"Okay, whoa gals, oaths?" Ella steps between Linda and Maze, a hand up toward each one.

"-And besides that, he _left_ me here!"

Chloe closes the gap between herself and Maze, maintaining eye contact with the demon. "What is going on. Talk."

Linda continues to glare at Maze, who looks sullen now. "Whatever. Lucifer's been seeing Linda for therapy for the last month or so. But he's not back. Not really, anyway."

Linda slaps her hand over her eyes as Chloe's accusing glare flares back in her direction. Ella, desperately trying to get a grip on this conversation, casts her eyes between the tense trio and interjects slowly, "So, I thought Lucifer had to go home for some long-term family stuff... He couldn't find a therapist there? I mean, I know he's loaded so he can, like, fly anywhere, anywhen, but- I mean, sorry Chloe, but he broke it off with you so I kinda thought he was gone-gone?"

"Okay Ellen, look-"

"Maze!" Linda interjects, "Is Charlie awake? I thought I heard something in the living room?" Maze cocks her head at Linda, and takes the hint, stalking into the living room. All eyes are on Linda now. She clears her throat, and meets their gazes squarely. "You know I can't divulge any privileged information. I'm sorry, Chloe, I am. But I can't tell you anything here. At least not until I've had a chance to discuss the situation with... Certain parties." Linda's eyes are full of compassion, but there is also steely resolve there. Chloe knows she can't win this one tonight, she has to let it go for now.

"When can I speak to Amenadiel?"

"He'll call or text and let you know when he's able to talk. But I can't guarantee you'll like what you hear."

The Emergency Tribe night disbanded. It was a work night, after all, and Trixie's sitter could only stay until 9. Ella and Chloe walk out to their cars together, making plans to meet up at the Del Rio Hotel early the next morning to follow up on Jay's disappearance.

Ella wraps her in an enormous hug before they part ways. "Thank you for helping me, Chloe. I know you just want to drop everything and find out what's going on with Lucifer. It means so much that you're taking time to look for my idiot brother with me."

"What are sisters for?" Chloe smiles at the younger woman. "You'll be okay tonight? If you want to stay with us, I've got a spare room."

"Nahhh, Margaret gets her feathers all in a twist if she doesn't get her nightly dust bath. I'll see you in the morning. Thanks though, I mean it."

Chloe watches Ella pull away, and briefly considers camping on Linda's front porch, but eventually slides into the driver's seat of her cruiser and turns the key in the ignition.

Nothing happens.

"Oh, hello my dear," oozes a voice from the shadows of the back seat, "it's so lovely to finally meet you."

Chloe reacts instantly, reaching for a gun at her hip... Which isn't there.

_Dammit. Put it in the lockbox after my shift._

Swift movement in the backseat only leaves her time to blast the horn for a second or two before sparks light behind her eyes, and everything goes dark.


	12. Chapter 12

The horn blast startles Charlie awake with a reedy wail and waving fists and Maze, curved blades in hand, is at the door and outside before Linda can make it to the living room. A gutteral cry echoes from the drive, and Amenadiel appears in the living room as Linda tucks the protesting baby into her embrace.

They barely have time to exchange a look before a blinding flash of flame erupts, blowing a smoldering Maze through the window. Amenadiel mantles his wings to protect his family, and just manages to reach and snag Maze's ankle to stop her flight short of hitting the back wall. The force of his grip swings her around to a slightly softer landing on the sofa as the flame winks out as suddenly as it manifested.

Linda huddles with Charlie in the far corner, managing to dial 911 as Amenadiel dives out the window with a roar. Maze stirs feebly for a moment in the mound of cushions she'd been thrown into, then staggers up to crouch in front of the huddled pair, on a slightly muddled high alert.

An eternal moment passes. Amenadiel comes back into the house as Linda is providing the address to the operator. She lifts her gaze, and he shakes his head- the danger is no longer immediate. Linda wraps up the call, and Amenadiel comes to kneel on the floor with the rest of his family.

"Whatever it was, it's gone for now. Maze. What did you see?"

"I saw that scum-sucking bastard hauling Decker out of her car like one of Trixie's stuffed creatures!" Maze's voice is frigid, brittle. "How did he even _get_ here??"

"Maze. _Who_ did you see?"

"Azazel!" Maze hisses the word like a curse. "Chloe wasn't fighting, so he must have knocked her out."

"He's got Chloe-" Linda exhales heavily. "Maze, are you sure she was alive?"

"Azazel isn't stupid enough to kill her. If he's taken her, it's because he either wants something from Lucifer, or he wants to DO something TO Lucifer." Maze's tongue flicks out to touch her knife blade. "Either way, he needs her alive. Azazel better hope Lucifer finds him before I do. Nobody Molotov's me and gets away with it." 

Linda calls Dan while they wait for the police to arrive- he'll need to pick up Trixie. The officers arrive as she hangs up the phone, and they are all kept busy answering questions about what happened. None of the uniformed officers present seem to have any personal connection with Chloe, Dan, or Ella.

Hours later, Linda is released to finally get a sleeping Charlie to bed. She'll likely spend the night next to his crib. Amenadiel sits on the couch, head in his hands and his skin a few shades lighter than normal. Maze, impatiently flipping her knives, hears him mumbling to himself from across the room.

"What."

"I said, 'You're asking the right question.' " Amenadiel shakes his head. "How did he get here? He's not possessing a body. He must have somehow hitched a ride with me when I crossed the plane to get back. I literally brought him right to Chloe. Right to my home. To my _family_. Now we need to add another question, 'Where did he take Chloe?' "

The baby monitor fuzzes to life on the end table and Linda's voice emanates from it, "And don't forget, 'What are we going to do to get her back?' We should probably start on that one now."

"One more question." Maze actually looks at Amenadiel with something like pity. "How are you going to tell Lucifer a demon has not only escaped Hell, but has also taken Chloe hostage?"


	13. Chapter 13

Lucifer's eyes flare red. "Who has taken her, exactly?"

His voice is low, dangerous. Amenadiel's idealistic hopes for a productive start to this mission disappear in a puff of sulfuric flame. He wanted to plan with Linda and Maze before making this visit, but with time on Earth moving so much more slowly than Hell, they had argued it only made sense to plan here, and execute there. He had wanted to bring Maze with him, but Linda and Charlie couldn't be left without protection, and Maze couldn't come alone.

**********

Lucifer had been beyond surprised to see Amenadiel so soon, it hadn't even been a year since he had left, unless his reckoning was far off. He had felt a flicker of trepidation as his brother approached, palms raised in an attempt at calming, pacification.

"There's a problem, brother. Chloe has been taken."

Feral fury mingles with icy fingers of fear in his gut, and he holds with more than iron strength to his scant supply of self-control. His fingers grip the obsidian chair with enough force to start knapping razor sharp shards from the surface. 

_Remember. You need him. Especially now. Alienating him now will only hurt the Detective._

"Oh, _has_ she now?" The Devil growls. "Tell me, who has taken her, exactly?"

"I- well, Maze says that she saw Azazel dragging Chloe from her car. Chloe appeared to be unconscious, and Azazel blasted Maze through the front of the house with an explosive before she could engage him. That's all we know so far." Amenadiel cautiously approaches his brother. "We thought I should come here immediately to gain some time to plan our course of action."

Lucifer is still as a cat about to pounce. " _Azazel_." He hisses. "You said his outliers had been taken care of. That the heads had been brought in."

"Yes, that's right, Kregin's team reported they had gotten them all, but they didn't bring Azazel's head. Kregin told me they had thrown his body into an acid pit. It's all on the report I left for you." Amenadiel confirms quickly.

"I KNOW WHAT WAS IN THE BLOODY REPORT," Lucifer roars, still holding his body unnaturally frozen. He pulls in a pained, ragged breath and Amenadiel can see the effort it takes to loosen his grip on the stone chair. "How did he get to Earth?"

A few chips of obsidian plink to the floor in the silence that follows the eerily calm question.

"I don't know, Luci." Amenadiel drops his head. "The only thing I can think is that he must have somehow managed to come back with me when I crossed planes. But I didn't feel him."

A low, jagged growl is the only response he gets for a long moment, before his brother visibly reins himself in, straightens his shoulders, and says in a deceptively light voice, "Well, now. I've wasted enough time on backstory. What have we to go on for locating the Detective?" 

Amenadiel blinks, stunned. He had expected a lot more rage, but he was willing to take the opening presented. "Linda was calling Ella as I was leaving, to see if she could get her to work on tracking Chloe's phone. We didn't think it likely that Azazel would have any idea about human technology, and we know Chloe still had her phone on her when she was taken. If Maze can find somewhere she feels is safe for Linda and Charlie, she was going to start tracking in the meantime. I'm hoping we can come up with a viable plan and I can get back to Earth before time slips too far."

Lucifer swallows hard at the reminder that he would not be going to Earth to join in the search and rescue efforts, and tamps down a fresh surge of rage. His eyes flare red again, but he keeps his voice steady as he and Amenadiel start to plan.

By the time the search plan is hashed out and Amenadiel leaves for the Earthly plane, Lucifer's control has frayed to the point of threadbare civility. Once Amenadiel is gone, Lucifer snares the nearest demon.

_"Bring. Me. Kregin."_


	14. Chapter 14

A faint flicker of awareness crawls up Chloe's neck, conjuring a blurry line of dim light between her eyelids.

_Ow. Bad idea._

Even the dim light stabs into the back of her brain, and she squeezes her eyes shut again, fighting down rising nausea as she really notices the pain blooming behind her ear. She stays where she is - _where is she?_ \- and starts to take inventory as her wits slowly start to wake with the rest of her. Aching head, check. Crick in the neck, check. Flat on her stomach on a hard surface, probably a floor. She can't feel any restraints, but doesn't dare open her eyes yet to take stock of her surroundings, fighting to keep her breathing deep and even in case she's being watched. Time passes, and she drifts back into unconsciousness again.

_"Could you accept me like this?" Hooded Hellish eyes impale her, set deeply into charred, cracked skin. The voice of the man she professed to love only a matter of weeks ago incongruously sounding from those marred lips as he moves imperceptibly closer._

_"I... oh... You have no idea how much I want to. I do. I'm... I'm trying." She can't bring herself to look at him any longer, her love of the man she knows, fear of the devil she doesn't, and her self-loathing for even considering working with Kinley- her betrayal- all warring within her._

_"But could you?" Lucifer stops in his tracks, his gaze locked on her face._

_"I don't know," she releases the words in a nearly-broken sob, face wet with tears, and suddenly in a blink, the nightmare image is gone, replaced by a mildly disappointed expression on her partner's handsome face. The only indication of his inner turmoil swimming in the unshed tears in his dark eyes._

_He nods, the barest dip of his chin, and huffs a small breath through his aquiline nose. "Then I have my answer." There. The slightest break in his voice on the last syllable. He holds her gaze a moment more before turning away from her to regard the city skyline. She chuffs a watery sigh and rushes to the elevator, staring brokenly at the rigid set of his shoulders as the elevator doors block him from view, isolating her with her shame and heartbreak._

She wakes again as she cries out, the cold floor beneath her face wet with tears. She sucks in a deep breath and slowly moves to wipe her face, rolling onto her back before gradually easing into a sitting position. The pain in her head has subsided a bit, and she wonders how long she's been out. As she sits up, she feels her phone in her back pocket, but doesn't reach for it yet, taking note of her surroundings first. If it hasn't been taken from her yet, she doesn't want to draw attention to it now. 

The room is small. Windowless, of course. A bucket. A single light bulb on a cord too high to reach, even if she stood on the bucket. A large bottle of water, and a box of the meal replacement bars that Pierce used to keep in his desk. How... odd. The walls are concrete block, kept in good repair. There is no furniture (unless you count the bucket, and Chloe decidedly does _not._ ), and the door looks quite strong enough to keep her here for as long as... whoever it was... would like to keep her. 

She moves gingerly to sit in the corner against the wall, and continues examining the room- the ceiling, the walls, looking for the tiniest reflection or winking of a lens. She can find nothing, no indication of a camera, that she is being watched. As her nausea subsides, she carefully navigates to her feet and crosses the room to pick up the water bottle, and a protein bar. She unwraps the bar and sniffs it suspiciously, inspecting the wrapper for any sign of puncture marks or tampering. It appears safe enough, so she takes a small bite. She follows it with a small sip of water, and waits for a few minutes to see if anything offers to make a reappearance. She feels a bit better, so she proceeds to polish off the bar and about a quarter of the bottle before settling down to wait. She doesn't pull out the phone yet, but does thumb the volume button inside her pocket to make sure it doesn't make any sounds to alert its presence.

She rests her head back against the wall and drops back into a light doze.

_"Detective! Nooooo!" A blur as he charges in front of her, the explosion of her gun as the axe-wielding cameraman falls to the ground. Security drags him away as Chloe focuses on her devilish partner, pinned to the beam by the axe protruding from his chest._

_"Lucifer, oh my God!"_

_"Oh, well, there's an oxymoron." A breathless chuckle as her hands fumble along his chest, peeling back his jacket to find the axe head embedded in the wood behind him, not deep in flesh as she had half-feared._

_"It's just your jacket," She gazes up at his pale face. "You're okay."_

_"Hardly," he chuffs, "this is the second suit I've ruined in as many days, but yes. Are_ you _okay?" His eyes search hers._

_Slowly, she raises the axe, presses it gently against the skin over his sternum, where his shirt has come unbuttoned. Something flickers in his face, but he doesn't move, remaining pinned between the beam behind him and the puny detective and her axe in front._

_"If I pushed this into your chest, it would kill you?"_

_An exhaled "Yes."_

_"Because I'm close to you?"_

_A small nod and another, softer "Yes."_

_"But you jumped in front of it anyway." Why. Why would he- He followed her. For_ years _. Into every possible dangerous situation. Knowing that being close to her made him vulnerable, made him bleed, made him... mortal. Why would he choose to be close to her, knowing it could kill him at any moment?_

_His eyes never leave hers. "Yes. And I would do it again. And again. Don't you know that, Detective?"_

_She shakes her head, pulls the axe away and sees the bleeding rent where the skin has split from the pressure of the blade she held to his skin._

_"Oh. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."_

She wakes again to tears trickling from the corners of her eyes. Sniffling, she reflects that she definitely preferred not being able to remember her nightmares, especially if they were all like this, full of the moments she was betraying Lucifer. Hurting him.

The pain in her head has nearly completely dissipated, so she gets up and paces a bit, regaining some blood flow to her limbs. She drinks some water, and after a while, finds a use for the bucket when her bladder decides it has had quite enough punishment. She cautiously approaches the door, which is locked and windowless. She presses against it, but can't hear anyone on the other side. She decides no attention is better than possibly threatening attention for now, so she opts to wait a little while longer. Hopefully someone is tracking her phone. 

She's been pacing long enough that her feet are getting sore and the room seems to be getting smaller. She stops under the single light bulb and takes a deep breath, forcing herself to acknowledge the rising panic so it doesn't threaten to overwhelm her. Another. And another. She feels her muscles relax a bit when the bulb suddenly flicks off. 

"Hey!" It was a reflexive exclamation, but she decides to follow through. "HEY! Who turned out the light? What do you want with me? What's going on? Turn the light back on! OPEN THIS DOOR!" She has no faith that she'll get a response, and that is rewarded with continued darkness. "Okay, then... I guess I have a bedtime. Whatever time it is, anyway..." She fights the urge to check her phone, wanting to save the battery as long as she can for those searching for her to track it. 

_I doubt this guy would bring me a charger, if I asked._ Not that she's seen the guy, or even an outlet in here. She wonders fruitlessly who he is, what reasons he has for taking her. She shuffles blindly to a corner, arms held out straight in front of her like she's playing Blind Man's Bluff, and settles back against the wall. She closes her eyes, and sees unbidden the frozen image of Lucifer's face from the precinct earlier that night, eyes wide in startlement, hand starting to reach out with a look of longing starting to cross his face before he just, faded from view. She ruthlessly fights back more tears - she's only got the one bottle of water after all, can't be wasting it pouring down her face - and sets her mind to falling asleep.

"No more nightmares, Decker. Just sleep, dammit."


	15. Chapter 15

_Well now, this is almost too easy._

The Devil holds the squirming, squeaking demon with his thumb and a single forefinger wedged underneath either side of his jaw, lifting him to eye level as they hover high above even the towering spire that is Lucifer's throne. It hadn't taken but a moment's effort to ferret out Kregin's worst fear, and if he weren't in such an abysmal situation, he would have barked a laugh when the demon revealed what it was.

 _Heights. How... fortunate._ His eyes burn cold fire as the demon scrabbles to hold onto his crimson, ridged arm, terrified of being dropped. It would be begging for mercy, if it was able to draw air around Lucifer's vise-like grip on its throat. It manages to emit a sibilant, hissing sound followed by a small puff of air. 

"Ssssssss-inimin! Pl-!" Lucifer is intrigued, he folds his wings and lets them both plummet toward the labyrithine pits, pelted by embers and ash as they drop like stones.

They reach a slightly more comfortable height (for Lucifer- the demon is still petrified) and Lucifer sinks his fingers into the demon's left arm so he can loosen his grip on its throat enough to allow it a tiny sip of air. "Sorry, Kregin, what was that? You had something to say about Azazel's plans?"

The demon pants in shallow, gulping gasps, eyes darting between its Master's burning eyes and the distance between itself and solid ground. "He said- he said - he said -" 

" _Yes_ , we've covered that. _Do_ go on."

"Something about Cinnamon files! It didn't make any sense, and we'd gotten all the rest of his band! He was disgraced, and I've wanted his blade for eons! We -we - I let him go!"

Lucifer's lip peels back from his teeth in a feral snarl at the demon's confession. "What _else_ did he say before you so kindly turned a blind eye to his escape?"

"He- Dromos- A detective on Earth! The Cinnamon files! That's all, I swear!"

"Oh, now. I know you're a demon, but swearing. That really _is_ the limit." He releases the demon entirely, letting it fall to the ground (not so very) far below. He had been slowly reducing the altitude unnoticed as the demon was making its confession. It would suffer a broken bone, maybe as many as a dozen, but it wouldn't die. Unless others of its kind found it before it could crawl to relative safety to heal.

 _Cinnamon. Hm._ Well, first things first. He spreads his wings and gains altitude, gliding to the magma sea for a visit with his old friends, Dromos and Squee. The sounds of suffering buffet him as much as the wind gusts as he navigates the dangerous thermals created by the molten lava washing against the jagged cliffs hemming it in. He soars over the shoreline until he spies the demons he's looking for. Their chains have enough slack that when the slowly boiling tide recedes, their freshly burned, boiled, and charred skin is shredded over and over by the jagged obsidian shoreline underneath, until the tide crawls back in to engulf them in burning agony again. There is a delicious span of a few hours where they are each simultaneously being encased in lava AND being stabbed by thousands of obsidian points at the same time before the lava becomes deep enough for them to float a bit off the ground.

"Dromos!" He calls with false glee. "Squee! How are you enjoying the return of your King?"

"Luuuucifer! My king!" Dromos wails. Squee can't articulate any words, he appears to have gotten a faceful of lava with the most recent tide, and is simply lying limply on his bed of splintering nails, gasping like a landed fish.

"Ah, let's not have any of that, Dromos." The playful facade drops like a stone as he hovers over the pathetic creature. "I'm here to talk about a conversation you had with Azazel. Regarding a certain detective. And some files. And you _will tell me everything, Dromos."_

****************

_Of course it would lead back to him._

Lucifer won't go into his cell. He hasn't been to visit him, but he has a good idea of what would partially feature there, and he has no desire to see it. _Ever again_.

Lucifer settles in Hell's version of an audience chamber, where souls whose loops haven't been determined by themselves come to him for deliberation on what they deserve. He sends a demon to bring the former immortal to him for interrogation. He lets the Devil Face be replaced by his normal visage and sprawls himself nonchalantly, as comfortably as he can on the glassy finish of the throne-like dais as he waits. 

There is a thud at the door, which is then cracked open enough to fling a body inside, then abruptly slammed again with a resounding boom. 

"Well, _honey,_ fancy seeing you again, after all these years."

Cain lifts his head, eyes narrowed at the devil sitting at his ease on his throne. "Lucifer. To what do I owe the pleasure of escaping my Hell Loop, only to be dragged in front of _you?"_ Come up with something better for me?"

"Far from it. In fact, I have no idea what your little slice of Hell entails, and I'd prefer to keep it that way." A small smirk crosses his face as Cain's face tightens. "In fact, I have some questions for you."

"Why _in hell_ would I want to give you anything you want?" he spits. " _You're_ the reason I wound up here in the first place!"

"Ahhhh, that's only technically true, in that I managed to kill you before you killed me." Lucifer chuckles a bit. "You know full well that you're here because you feel _guilty_. But, as to your first question. I _may_ have an idea that could benefit us both... but it's going to require a lot of thought, planning, and cooperation. _For both of us._ "

Cain stands in silence, and Lucifer gives him time to think. 

"All right. I'm listening."


	16. Chapter 16

_"I know you're out there, Mr. Sniper!"_

_The familiar voice sends a sinking feeling into Chloe's guts as she leans over the railing, horrified. The straw holder just behind Lucifer's left shoulder explodes and showers everyone nearby with shrapnel as Chloe whips her head around and back, trying to extrapolate where the shot was fired from._

_"Come on! You'll have to do better than that!" His face is feral and desolate. "SHOOT ME!"_

_Chloe can feel her heart pounding in her ears as Lucifer stands there, arms spread, shielding the target from the sniper. Making a target_ of himself.

 _"Well go on then! What are you waiting for? Just shoot me right now,_ PLEASE!"

_"Lucifer!" She shouts, "What are you doing!?"_

_"Uh-oh, the police are here!" he taunts in a sing-song cadence. "You're gonna have to hurry up, Mr. Shooter, sir!" His eyes are focused up, but not on her- he doesn't acknowledge her presence in the slightest, other than to announce her- their- presence._

_Another shot, this time far to Lucifer's left. "Seriously? I am standing RIGHT HERE." Chloe whirls, running toward where she thinks the shooter may be, two levels up._

_Another shot, more shattering glass. She holds her breath and- there it is, Lucifer's response "All right, you're just embarrassing yourself now, I mean - could you be any worse of a shot?"_

_Four more shots as Chloe parts her way through plastic sheeting and creeps toward the shooter, firearm drawn and steady._

_Lucifer turns to address the terrified woman cowering behind him. "Je-, it's like he's not even trying."_

_Chloe steps past more sheeting. Another shot. "Not HER, you idiot, ME. SHOOT ME."_

_Time slips and she's leading the shooter down to the entrance where Lucifer sits fidgeting as he waits. His wild gaze sharpens as the shooter approaches, and he steps to block their path._

_"You. Why didn't you shoot me?"_

_"Shoot you?"_

_Lucifer shifts his weight, pointing fingers to the floor. "I was standing_ right here, _fair game - why didn't you do it?"_

_"Because you didn't deserve it."_

_"How do you know what I deserve?" His brow creases in consternation. The dream skips time, there was more to this interaction, she knows, but suddenly she's looking into her partner's bleak face._

_"So you were just trying to get yourself killed?"_

_slip_

_"You don't know a thing about who I really am, Detective, or what I've done."_

_slip_

_"You want to be punished for something... I"m here for you... I Just want to understand."_

_He shakes his head, the minutest movement, and speaks softly. "But you can't understand, Detective. And you never will." His voice breaks softly, and so does her heart at the pain she hears there-_

She's reintroduced to reality abruptly by the overhead light snapping on. The heavy door is open, and a man is standing in the doorway gazing at her as if he's never seen anything like her before. He's not very tall, maybe about Dan's height and build. No scars or tattoos to make him stand out in crowd. Hair a nondescript brown, and dark, narrowed eyes. He exudes an easy, lethal grace that Chloe recognizes from her experience with Maze. This man is dangerous. 

"You call his name when you sleep," he comments, puzzled. "But I feel no fear from you."

"What? How long have you-" Chloe lifts her hand to shield her bleary eyes, "Where am I? What do you want?"

"Oh, not to worry my dear, I don't have any intentions of harming you at the moment " he replies unctuously. Then his face creases into a dark smile. "Unless, of course, you decide to cause me any trouble. Or if my erstwhile _lord and master_ decides to. I only need you for a short while, then I promise to return you to your natural habitat... relatively unharmed."

Chloe's eyes narrow as his statement registers in her still-groggy brain. "What exactly do you need me for?"

"Why, for _him_ , of course. The only way I can take care of _him_ is to have you nearby to make sure he doesn't come vaulting right back, throwing all sorts of wrenches into my plans for Hell."

"Lucifer's not going to come for me." Her insides twist as she speaks the bitter truth to this man. "He won't even know you have me. He's in Hell, he left _months_ ago!" His stricken face at the precinct flashes in front of her eyes.

"Ah, Detective Decker, that is where you are wrong." An oily smile slowly slides across his face, but doesn't reach his eyes. "I'm willing to wager he already knows I have you, and that he is likely already working out ways to come and rescue you from my clutches. But he will fail. You, my dear, are my key to success."

Chloe opens her mouth to say something- argue, protest, demand information, she's not quite sure what, but he goes on. "Tell me, what is it you see, when you sleep? What is it you fear, when you call his name?"

"I-" Chloe's tongue moistens her lips, unwilling to share any information with her jailer, especially those private, painful moments that have visited since her capture. "I don't know, I never remember my dreams."

"Ah." He seems disappointed, but he seems content to let her evasion rest. "Well. Here is some more sustenance for you, I'm told that you humans need ample feed and liquid in order to maintain existence for any length of time. Do be a good girl, and don't cause me any extra trouble that you'll wind up regretting, hmmm?"

"What do I- If I need something, how do I call you? _What_ do I call you?"

"I will be largely unreachable, so attempt not to damage yourself badly enough that you need assistance. My name, since you ask it, is Azazel. I am sure you will not have long to wait." And with that, he steps back out of the door frame and the substantial clang of the door closing is followed by multiple clanks and clunks of various locks and latches being engaged. Chloe knows she isn't going anywhere at least until it gets opened again. She stands from her corner and does some stretches, both to pass time and to relieve the aches that come from sleeping in a sitting position on a cold hard floor at her age. Then she takes inventory of the room again. Her keeper has left 2 more large-ish bottles of water and several more protein bars. 

_Well, those are going to get tiresome pretty quickly._ But she crosses the room to gather her new supplies and bring them over to add to her previous ones. At least now she isn't afraid that she won't get more. At least, not too afraid. He didn't seem like he was lying when he said he needed her in relatively good condition, so that's something. She hadn't felt an outright threat from him, merely a cold curiosity. That he was deadly dangerous she had zero doubt. But for now, she seemed to be safe enough. A wry smirk quirks her lips. _As safe as one can be when kidnapped and kept in a windowless cell, anyway._

So. Azazel. Even Chloe knows that name. She's seen a few movies and TV shows that have mentioned that particular demon's name, though she knows nothing about him specifically. He's not a name she remembers from the battle at the Mayan, and he doesn't look familiar to her. She wonders if he has anything to do with why Lucifer was here, but then- why would he come to the precinct? And why would he run away? Well, apparently he's been making little visits for awhile now- what did Maze say, a month? How many times had he been back, and hadn't bothered to come tell her he was okay? Had, in fact, extracted an _oath_ from Linda and Amenadiel to keep her unaware. Her vision narrows a bit and she blinks at the sudden fury that is rising in her chest. 

_How dare he._

But then, like a deflating balloon, the fury abates and she's merely exhausted again. How long has she been sitting here thinking? She unwraps a protein bar and eats it on automatic, then finishes her original bottle of water. She settles into her corner, and slumps like she's preparing for more sleep as she manages to wrangle her phone surreptitiously out of her pocket. She thumbs the side to turn the screen on and sees the time and date, just after 11 AM, the morning after she was taken. So she's only been here for about 15 hours. 

_No bars. Damn._ Well, she should expect that, surrounded by what are likely very thick cement walls, and God only knows where. Well. God and at least one demon, she supposes. She flips the screen off and stuffs the phone back into her pocket. They should still be able to trace it even without signal. She shuffles around the cell a little more before settling back in the same corner with her supplies, watching the door. She doesn't want to fall asleep, but the monotony is relentless; she nods once. Twice.

_"I CAN'T SLEEP!" Lucifer bellows across the desk at her, before catching himself, regaining a thin veneer of control. Then, quietly, "Detective, I can't sleep."_

_Chloe stands from her desk, face expressionless, and crosses to an interrogation room. She opens the door and stands aside, waiting wordlessly for him to precede her into the room. Hesitantly, he paces into the room, his fingers digging into his disheveled hair, his pocket square dangling by a corner. He releases what could be a soft sob as she closes the door behind them, his shoulders curling into himself._

_"Lucifer."_

_He turns, his eyes wild, hands sliding down his face until just his fingers are over his mouth._

_"I've had it."_

_He stammers in his haste to reply. "Wel- yo-you won't understand, will you? It's my wings, they're back. It's my Father, he's manipulating me! He's making me do things that I would never do- !" He's manic, eyes wide, gesticulating disjointedly to emphasize what he's saying._

_"What, like flying through the night, helping people like some rogue angel -"_

_"Yes! Yes, exactly- that is the_ only _plausible explanation!" He emits a laugh that sounds more like a squeak. "Either that, or Linda's right, and I'm suppressing pent-up feelings about you and... PIERCE." He says the last word like a curse, a wide attempt at a disbelieving smile pasted onto his face. "Which is- obviously absurd." The grimace fades and he releases a heavy sigh._

_"You hate that I'm with him."_

_"I couldn't care less that you're with that insolent... dullard." But he won't meet her gaze._

_"We both know that's not true," Chloe persists, despite his increasing obvious anxiety. "But what I wanna know is - why it bothers you so much?"_

_"Because, Detective," his voice wavers a bit, "I happen to know him better than you, and I know that you can't trust him."_

_"Care to elaborate on that?" She makes a 'go-on' gesture with her hand, arms crossed and defensive._

_"Ah!" He exclaims, "Yeah, fine. I will, because YOU deserve to know the truth-"_

_"Yes, okay."_

_"Pierce, isn't Pierce. He's Cain, from the Bible- and he's immortal, he's been around eons and all he cares about is ridding himself of that STUPID CURSE that MY FATHER put on him--"_

_"STOP." Chloe's frustration and irritation boils out of her, "STOP. You're tired-"_

_"NO."_

_"-and you're not thinking clearly-"_

_"No- it's not because I'm tired, Detective-" Lucifer is so worked up he's literally hopping in place, his fists pounding against his forehead as he's desperately trying to communicate, despite not sleeping for weeks. She cuts him off again ruthlessly, throwing up her hands._

_"AND, but- since you brought it up. Let me tell you," She steps closer to him, closing the gap between them, "what I think about Marcus. He is a good man, who treats me right."_

_Lucifer heaves a silent sigh, sliding his gaze away from her as he shakes his head._

_"And I'm happy, Lucifer. And all I know is how I feel when I'm around him. And, you know, I lo-" she stops herself at the look on his face. That intense gaze that dares her to go on, to carry that thought to its completion. To twist the knife. "I- . I'm done here."_

_She turns away from him, and only looks back as she reaches the door, leaving him standing alone in the darkened room. She leaves the door open, but doesn't look back as she walks away._

She jerks awake again with a face wet with tears to the sound of her door locks disengaging. The bulky door swings open and a man is shoved inside, sprawling on the ground in front of her as she lunges forward. "Here you are, my dear. You've been quite good, so we thought you might enjoy some company. We had hopes for this one, but he's turned out to be a bit useless after all. Try to keep him in line, will you?" The door slams shut again, and the locks can be heard on the other side.

Chloe kneels in front of her new roommate, who is curled in on himself, gasping in pain from what appears to be a dozen different injuries. She rolls him to his side in preparation to help him sit up.

"Hey, it's okay, let's just get you- _Jay?"_

"Detective Decker?"


	17. Chapter 17

Lucifer maintains his focus with precarious control.

 _This is the place you are most useful right now. Maze is the tracker. Amenadiel is the planner._ You _are the doer, so get things done. If you can do it properly... Well. Don't think that far ahead, yet._

He and Cain have been sequestered for weeks, at least. Time has slipped away as they've attended their little _tête-à-tête_ in Hell's Courtroom. Lucifer knows that hardly any time has passed on Earth, but he still feels the chafe of sitting still while the Detective is in peril. 

"So you understand my reservations for this proposal, Cain. You're not exactly the most _trustworthy_ person I know."

Cain raises a wry eyebrow at the Devil. "But am I the most trustworthy person you know _in Hell?"_

Lucifer's smile is cold, and doesn't reach his eyes. "That is not a warm recommendation, Cain. But you do have a point. Besides the one on your head." He gives a small smirk. "I can respect you, Cain, even if I can't _like you_. And if you can convince me that you can actually handle things properly, I think this plan has a slightly better than a snowball's chance here. You've been in law enforcement, you've been a manager. Hell, you've been a ringleader of an enormous network of nefarious skullduggery for eons. I think this position fits you like a glove. _But._ You have to convince me that you won't... well. Be _you_."

"Lucifer. Do it. Ask me." Cain leans forward, earnest. 

Lucifer leans forward to match him, catching and keeping his gaze. "Tell me, Cain. What is it you _truly desire?"_

Cain's face goes slack, and he answers. "Literally the _only thing_ I care about is getting- and staying- out of my loop. I don't want to go back to Earth- I've been there since the beginning and there is nothing new for me there. No challenges. Even if I did make it back, there's no way your Father would give me my Mark back, so a few decades and I'd be right back here anyway. This idea? This is new. This is nothing _anyone_ has ever dreamed of, or tried before. We've worked together before. We can do it again."

Lucifer analyzes the man, and doesn't sense a lie. He'll have to keep a close eye, of course, to make certain... But...

 _I_ have _seen Cain do some good things. He can handle himself in all manner of situations, and he has more experience in managing sin than anyone down here... save for yours truly, of course._

He continues to hold Cain's gaze. "You will make an oath? And hold to it?"

"I will."

Lucifer heaves a sigh. _Well. Won't know until we try, eh?_ "Very well, then. Let's get a wriggle on."

They set about drafting the phrasing of the oath, then planning the release of the news to Hell at large.

**********

The three demons gathered before him look absolutely astounded. Lucifer manages to hide his amusement at their consternation, but only just. He holds the intensity expected of the King of Hell as he reiterates the announcement. "Cain is to be the Duke of Hell. You will be his Lordlings, helping him maintain order- such as it is- and ensuring punishments are attended to _as I dictate."_

Cain stands stock still and silent, to the left of the dais, his hands clasped behind him in parade rest stance. The demons slide their eyes over to take stock of him.

Asteroth licks her lips and carefully bows her head. "My King, I do not question your wisdom. Are you certain that this... human... is worthy of this honor?"

"It is good that you do not question my wisdom, Asteroth. Only my judgement, perhaps?" His voice is gentle, but his eyes flare red in the dim chamber, and his fingernails scream along his obsidian armrests, causing the demons to cringe and shudder in anticipation. "Would you, perhaps, like to try him in combat? This formerly immortal human, who has seen and participated in more battle, death, murder, mayhem, and cruelty than many of you _combined?"_

Asteroth shakes her head quickly, "No-no my King! I trust your judgement! I vow to assist the Duke of Hell in any way that I can!"

Lucifer allows his smoldering gaze to wander to the other two Lordlings. "And you Balam? Eblis? What say you?" 

The two demons kneel before their king, heads lowered. They recite nearly as one, "I vow to assist the Duke of Hell in following your edicts, my King. My fealty is to you, and if the Duke obeys you, I will obey and protect him as needed."

The reluctant King of Hell surveys his delegates and takes a deep breath, barely noticing the sting of the sulphur in his lungs as he revels in his long-fought-for victory.

"Then we shall proceed with our blood oaths."

First the Lordlings. One at a time, they draw their demon blades and score a bloody line across their palms. Lucifer uses no blade, only his teeth, and flashes a crimson smile as each demon repeats the Oath of Fealty to their King, and the Oath of Obeisance to their new Duke.

At last, Cain approaches the dais, ready to make his own Oath of Fealty. He and Lucifer stand and clasp bloody palms in front of the demon Lordlings, and Cain drops to one knee with his head lowered. The Lordlings drop to both knees without prompting, ensuring their heads are kept below the Duke's. 

It bodes well, as beginnings go. 

_Detective, I'm coming. I will make sure you are safe._

_*****************_

He hasn't seen a legion of demons this large since he first took the throne for himself. He surveys the amassed hoardes, chaos incarnate, as they mill, writhe, seethe, and squirm against one another amongst the crowding columns of Hell's labyrinth. He stands above it all at his throne, surveying his recalcitrant Kingdom.

 _Oh, Dad, I can't wait to be gone from here._ He casts his eyes briefly upward and decides to chance an actual prayer. _Please, Father. I'm trying to be responsible with these duties. Just. Let me have this._

He has taken his dramatic King of Hell form - Burned, craggy skin, draconic wings and all. Cain has never seen this manifestation, and judging by the faint pallor on his face and sheen of sweat on his brow, it can only help Lucifer's cause.

"Demons of Hell!" his distorted roar rolls across the legions, calming them into stillness instantly, as it had at the Mayan when Dromos had unwisely kidnapped his nephew, starting this entire hellish occurrence. A growl rumbles in his charred chest as he continues the announcement. "You have claimed me as your King, and I will have your attention. We have worked well together these past centuries, and have forged Hell into a finely-tuned machine. I am no longer needed here for the day-to-day operations that you are all so... accomplished at handling."

There is a quiet rustle among the legion as the demons self-congratulate. He smirks to himself as he hears Maze in his head: _"Self-worth comes from within, bitches."_ He goes on before the rustle becomes a rumble. "This," he gestures at the foot of his throne spire, where Cain is standing, again at Parade Rest, "is your new Duke of Hell, Cain, son of Adam." A surprised hiss rolls along the hoarde as they take in this news and Lucifer plows ahead again.

"Cain will see to the daily running of Hell. He will oversee punishments are attended to _as I dictate_ -" here he lets himself growl ominously, "and will coordinate with Asteroth, Balam, and Eblis to ensure that Hell stays running smoothly. I have duties elsewhere that need to be addressed, but I will be making regular visits to ensure that you are all supporting my edicts and the designated Duke with all due respect and diligence." His flaming eyes scour the crowd, which remains stock still, like a swarm of mice ensnared by a cobra's hypnotic dance. "If there are any concerned parties, speak now."

Asteroth had been particularly helpful in narrowing down any demons that she thought would have a problem with this arrangement, and had made sure to place them near the front ranks. Eblis and Balam were stationed nearby in the throng with some of their more loyal demons to help with crowd control, as needed.

Predictably _(these are demons, after all,_ Lucifer thinks to himself dryly) a half dozen broke the ranks shrieking toward Cain, blades drawn. Eblis took down 2 before they could gain momentum, Asteroth took one, and Balam took another. Cain remained at parade rest until the two remaining demons were within a couple of strides before drawing a pair of matching curved Hell-forged blades. Performing an economical whirling move, and embedding a blade deep in the eye socket of one, then a half-turn later thrusting the other blade up into the ribcage of the other and ending back in parade rest stance, all without making a sound.

The legion remains still and silent as the two downed demons gurgle out their last breaths, then, as one, sinks to a knee to honor their new Duke. Lucifer's teeth bare in a ferocious snarl that may be masking a grin of triumph.


	18. Chapter 18

Cain had told him what he needed to know. Azazel had been one of the demons in charge of Cain's torture when he had originally arrived in Hell, before his hell loop was prepared. Cain had given Azazel all of the information in his supernatural files, the "Cinnamon files" that Kregin had spoken of. Of course.

 _"No, Maze,_ Sinnerman _, not cinnamon - he's not a spice!"_

With this information burning in his head, he had a good idea where Azazel may be holding the Detective. But first... he needed to see Cain in action in his new role.

 _Hardly any time has passed on Earth. She's in no danger until I arrive. Azazel needs her in good condition to assure my cooperation for whatever he's planning._ Lucifer grinds his teeth and his wings flare as he coasts on the thermals rising from the magma seas below. A particularly rough wind buffets and a couple of tiny feathers drift free, settling into the lava below and sizzling gently into ash. _Damn demons. Every time I get into a fight a few feathers get jarred loose- I'd look like a plucked chicken if they happened any more frequ-_

The thought freezes and he stills, relying on the roiling air currents to keep him aloft. Memory flashes. Maze.

_"How, Maze? How did you heal that wound?" He had asked intently. Healing was not a skill demons possessed, and this one had been fatal. Hell-forged metal and angels do not good bedfellows make._

_"I-" Maze hesitated, not like her at all. "I found... a feather. One of your feathers. I used it to heal him."_

_"You- you_ found _one of my feathers?" Lucifer is baffled. "That's impossible, my wings have been gone for_ years _, Maze, it's not like it would have just been floating around!"_

_"No.. it wasn't. Floating around." She admits, eyes on the surface of the bar between them. "I. I had it. From before. When you had me cut your wings off."_

_"Mazikeen!" Lucifer had laughed in disbelief. "I didn't know you had it in you. Sentimental? You?"_

_"It_ wasn't _sentiment!" She had exploded, "It was SENSE! I was going to use it to get us home, once you'd gotten sick of Earth!"_

_"Back to Hell?" Lucifer mulled over the possibility. It is possible that a feather could contain enough divinity to cross the planes. He tilted his tumbler toward her in a toast. "Well. Mazikeen of the Lilim, I am... proud of you. You saved Amenadiel, and he will not forget that in future. Nor will I."_

He returns to the present, a grim expression settling over his face. _So that's how. He didn't hitch a ride with my dear Brother after all. He found one of my lost feathers. Well. Clever, clever demon._

Lucifer observes Cain's performance closely for well over a year. The anxiety coils deeper in his gut as time passes and he has to keep forcibly reminding himself that it has still been less than a day on Earth since the Detective was taken. He has nearly everything in place now, it's nearly time to put the plan into play. _Patience, Lucifer. Patience is a virtue you cannot disavow._ So he continues to watch. Cain has made no missteps, and the demons are holding their oaths. Finally, after two years, Lucifer can wait no longer.

*********************

He arrives at Linda's doorstep after the fastest shower and change of his (very, _very_ long) life. He rings the bell three times in quick succession before the door is ripped open and Maze, bristling with knives, stands in the doorway. 

"Oh. It's you." she steps back, allowing him to sidle past her into the house. "I thought we were handling this?"

"I come bearing information, and Hell is currently in competent hands." he quirks a smile at his demon and makes a little 'after you' gesture for her to lead the way. 

"Thanks for abandoning me here, by the way." The accusation lacks any real heat. "Even though you _promised_ not to."

"You know as well as I that you were not stranded here, Mazikeen," Lucifer chides lightly. "I wouldn't have left you without any way home, should you truly have chosen to go back. Amenadiel is as perfectly capable of taking you back as I am, now that his wings are returned."

"I know." The response is quiet. "But you didn't-" the sentence trails off.

"Didn't what, Mazikeen?"

"You didn't say _goodbye!"_ she cries. She rounds on him with a balled, bladeless fist.

Lucifer had been expecting this since she answered the door. As much as he would enjoy the distraction a fight might provide, now that he's on the Earthly plane, time is at a premium. He easily dodges the swing, traps her wrist with a gentle but iron grip and pulls her back to his chest in what quickly becomes an embrace. "I _know_ , Mazikeen, I know. I _am_ sorry, but I couldn't force you to make that choice. And. I wanted you here. To protect them." This last was whispered on a breath into her struggling ear. He looks up to find Amenadiel and Linda standing in the living room, watching them both with wide eyes.

Maze struggles once more, then relaxes against him. "I get it. But I'm still pissed at you."

"Understood." He releases the demon, and they both join the pair in the living room. Charlie is asleep in a small bed placed in the furthest, most protected corner of the room, but Lucifer doesn't spare a glance for him other than to register his presence. "So. What have you learned?"

Linda's phone is still in her hand, and he can hear a tinny voice arising from the handset. She raises it back to her ear. "Ella? Uh, we have a situation- I'm going to put you on speaker." She touches the button, and Ella's voice fills the room.

"Did I hear Lucifer's voice? Is he there?"

"Yes, hello Miss Lopez. What do you have for us?"

"Buddy, you have got some serious 'splaining to do. Especially after we find Chloe."

"I am aware, Miss Lopez," Lucifer takes a steadying breath and refrains from rolling his eyes with great effort. "And I look forward to sharing the entire story, none of which you will actually believe. Now. _What have you found?"_

"All right. I managed to track Chloe's phone to an old meat packing and storage warehouse. I'm sending you the address now." Maze's phone issues a small buzz as Ella's address arrives. "i don't know if she's actually there, because it's hard to believe a kidnapper would be that stupid - so it's probably a trap."

"Believe me when I say, it's both." Lucifer leans over to look at the phone screen Maze is holding out to him and nods. "I thought she might be there, I've been held there before, it is _very_ sturdy. Thank you, Miss Lopez for the confirmation. We'll take it from here, chat soon."

"Whoa there fella, you're not getting rid of me that easily. The LAPD has this information as well, and they're working on getting a team together for retrieval, since no ransom demands have been made."

"Then we'd best move quickly. Thank you, Miss Lopez." Lucifer's long fingers pluck Linda's phone from her hand and press the 'disconnect' button, effectively silencing Ella's protests. 

Amenadiel and Linda continue to watch Lucifer with wide eyes as he moves further into the room to pace. "I think it best if Maze and I handle this situation alone."

Linda breathes a small sigh of relief that she tries very hard to conceal. Lucifer gives her a small, tight smile. "Amenadiel, you need to protect your family in case the Detective's apprehension is a front for another attempt at Charlie. I haven't uncovered any indications of such a plot, but it's best to be as prepared as possible."

"Brother," Amenadiel begins, "this entire situation is my fault- the demon was able to escape Hell because of me. I need to be-"

"It is _not_ ," Lucifer interrupts firmly, "your fault, Amenadiel. I have a sound theory that Azazel was able to cross the planes using one of my feathers that was lost during a skirmish with his outliers. So if anything, this is ultimately _my fault_."

The tension leaves Amenadiel's shoulders as Linda narrows her eyes and speaks up authoritatively. "I think it's safe to say that is all the _demon's fault._ So let's not waste time assigning blame where none exists, and get this son of a bitch off Earth permanently."

"Oh my dear Doctor, _that_ will not be a problem." Lucifer allows a smile that doubles as a snarl to cross his face. "Maze? Shall we?"

"Give me two minutes to gather my gear."

***************************

Linda corners Lucifer as Maze strides off to gather her supplies. "Lucifer-"

"I know, Doctor, I've brought this nightmare quite literally to your doorstep yet again." Lucifer dips his head, the better to fix his gaze on his tiny therapist's face. "I am... so very sorry, darling."

"That is not what I was going to say, Lucifer." Her eyes hold his steadily, no trace of recrimination in them. "I'm going to say this as your _friend_ , but I would say just the same as your therapist. And you are going to listen. Do you understand?"

His brow furrows in confusion. "Yes?"

Her diminutive hands reach for and wrap around his much larger one. "You can't just disappear once Chloe is safe. You need to have a real discussion with her. And I think you need to find a way to split time, so you can keep your life here. We can help you work something out, but you _belong here with us, Lucifer._ "

His eyes go blank in surprise, and his lips part but no words emerge.

_Look at that. I've managed to render the Devil speechless._

She smiles at him warmly. "We'll figure it out, Lucifer, but let us help you. As well as we can, anyway. The weight of the world cannot rest solely on your shoulders. You deserve as much of a chance at happiness as the rest of us. I'm only sorry we didn't have this discussion sooner."

Lucifer takes a broken breath, and opens his mouth to answer, "I've... actually started to put a plan in place, but I need some time-"

Maze returns to the room with her clanking duffel. "Let's go."

He squeezes Linda's hands gently, and releases them. "We'll chat soon, dear Doctor." He looks up as his brother clasps his shoulder. "Amenadiel-"

"Go get her, Brother." His eyes warm in a smile. "Go get your Chloe."

_My Chloe. Yes, I can do that._

Lucifer's eyes light up as a wild grin spreads across his face. He claps Amenadiel on the back before scooping up Maze and her duffel, and unfurling his wings for flight.


	19. Chapter 19

"Jay! What are _you_ doing here?" Chloe grabs his shoulders and hauls him into a sitting position, taking stock of injuries as she does.

He winces as he moves. "I'm, um. Not really sure. I was leaving my hotel room for drinks with Ella, and next thing I know I'm in a room like this only there's hooks and chains and stuff everywhere, with this old TV on a cart that didn't work. Then that guy came and started asking me questions about your partner!" His eyes widen and his eyes lock on Chloe's. "Man, all I could tell them is that he scares the _Hell out of me!_ That dude totally scared me straight, told me that if I disappointed my baby sister he would know, and I would regret it. Detective, I believed every word."

"Yeah," Chloe narrows her eyes. "He has that effect on people. What kind of trouble were you causing?"

"Oh." Jay starts feeling around himself, probably testing out his bruises. "Well, he came in to drop off some supplies and I was right by the door, so I tried to take off. He caught me like I was _nothing_ , man, and didn't even seem like he was mad. He.. actually seemed happy about it. Said it gave him something to do while he was waiting. And the whole time, he was telling me exactly what he was going to do, and how gentle he was being because he needed me in 'good condition'." Jay releases a jagged breath and shakes his head, as if to clear it. "I have no idea why he thinks your partner needs me in good condition, but I wasn't about to suggest otherwise, ya know?"

"Hm." Chloe hums noncommittally, "Did he say anything else?"

"Nah, once he figured I didn't know nothing, he just dragged me and threw me in here. How long have we been here anyway?"

"If he brought you here right after you missed drinks with Ella, you've been here almost 2 days. It's been less than that for me, less than a full day." Chloe helps him to his feet and helps him hobble over to her favorite corner, offering him a bottle of water and a protein bar. None of his injuries seem to be serious, just painful. He's barely even bleeding. Jay's breathing deepens and slows, and he dozes off shortly afterward. Chloe settles next to him, thinking. 

_All right, so I already knew this guy was a demon, and that he was after Lucifer. This guy took Jay nearly a day before he took me- why? Because Lucifer had promised to keep watch on him? How would he know that? How long has he been here on Earth? Did he somehow stay behind when Lucifer forced the others to go back to Hell?_

Chloe's thoughts go on in the same fruitless vein for a little while before she forcibly reins them in. She manages to hold her mind blank for a few minutes before releasing her grip to let it find a new thought path. 

_I wonder if Lucifer knows._ She thinks he does. _I hope - he_ has _to know this is a trap- I hope he doesn't do anything stupid. Or reckless._

_"Haven't you noticed, Detective? That's kind of my jam."_

She looses a watery chuckle at his imaginary response. It's true. He's very good at stupid, and reckless. Especially when it comes to her. Her head twinges a bit where she had been struck, and reaches up to massage the knot away. It's still tender, but her vision is clear and she hasn't had any coordination issues, aside from pins and needles in the extremities from sitting on the hard floor. Her stomach growls and she remembers that she should probably have more than a single protein bar to keep her strength up for... whatever she might need it for.

She reaches across Jay and snags a couple of protein bars and a bottle of water. She inhales the first protein bar to silence her stomach, then the second. She presses the cool bottle of water to her aching head and tries not to think. Her stomach gives another funny little noise, and she indulges in one more protein bar, snorting softly as she looks over at a snoring Jay. 

_So weird. You'd think with the stress we wouldn't be able to sleep._ But she's already feeling sleepy again, the water bottle in her hand falling away from her nodding head. She looks down at the hand holding the empty protein bar wrapper. _Ohhh... Maybe they were tampered with, after all..._ But she can't respond to that thought as her mind slides away, deep into the dark waters of sleep.

Her nightmares are waiting to welcome her, as always now. A seemingly endless parade of them.

_Chloe approaches as Lucifer stalks toward the girl on the ground_

_"Lucifer." Chloe's warning tone sounds out as he moves into the girl's space, "Don't move." The girl is cowering on the ground now, face averted, hands over her ears._

_"Detective, you should leave." Lucifer's voice is silky, dangerous, his gaze still focused on the quivering girl before him._

_Chloe sees a reflected flare in a piece of machinery nearby, in Lucifer's eyes. Her gun remains trained on the club owner and she whispers, "Who are you?"_

_His head comes up, and he turns slowly, watching her now with dark, hypnotic eyes._

_"What are you?" Her voice remains firm. "Did you do this?"_

_He tilts his head further, "I've been trying to tell you, I'm the Devil."_

_She shakes her head in denial. "This - this is not possible."_

_"I assure you, Detective, it_ is! _" his voice is incredulous. "I mean, you've said yourself there are things you can't explain. You need more proof, come on, you've got the gun - shoot me." He gives her a little smirk, daring her._

_"No! I can't shoot you!" Of course she can't shoot him, that would be crazy. He hasn't done anything, he's not threatening her._

_"Sure you can! Well, give her a squeeze, we'll be good to go." His expression is open, not a single doubt of the outcome written on his face._

_She continues to shake her head, "No."_

_"Just_ shoot me _Detective, please! Because maybe you'll finally-"_

_The report of the pistol reverberates through the factory, muffling her gasp of surprise._

_He looks down at his leg, compressing his lips. He waves a fist in her direction and shouts, "Good for you!" His grin is wide, pleased at her audacity. "See? Hardly hurts."_

_"I can't believe-"_

_"D-aahhhh-" His hand goes to his thigh and his weight shifts suddenly. "Actually, you know, it's hurting a little bit. It's - Gah- it's hurting a lot act- Son of a bitch, that really hurts!" He's leaning forward now, applying pressure to the bleeding wound, eyebrows creased in consternation. He pulls his hand away from the wound and looks at it, flabbergasted. "I'm bleeding."_

_"You're bleeding."_

_"I'm_ bleeding. _" Like he truly can't believe what he's seeing._

_"Of course you're bleeding," her hands come up to her brow and she starts to pace. "Oh God, what have I done?"_

_"I don't- I don't bleed, it's..." he drops to his knee with a grunt of pain. She crosses the empty space to him._

_"I'm so sorry!"_

Chloe whimpers in her sleep, slumping down from her sitting position to rest on the floor, but does not wake.

****************

_"For a moment I was helping him try to send you back to Hell."_

_"How could you do that to me?" He scoffs. "To me?"_

_"Because I'm terrified!!" She screams. His face, crumpled in pain, goes slack at her words. "You are the actual Devil. I mean... Every story of good and bad from... Throughout history, throughout time says that **you are the embodiment of evil**. And how am I, Chloe Decker- a nobody- supposed to deal with that?!"_

_His face is no longer blank, but has set like stone. Only his eyes reflect his disappointment, his betrayal, his broken heart. He shakes his head as if in denial, and turns away from her._

_******************_

_Lucifer, leaping on a woman with a knife lunging at Chloe, then turning with the blade protruding from his shoulder._

_*****************_

_Lucifer appearing covered in blood in the hangar where Malcolm hunts her and Trixie, distracting him until she can get her gun and put an end to it._

_"I thought he killed you."  
"Oh, he did, yes... I got better."_

_*****************_

_Chloe sprinting toward the lab where she had left Lucifer about to break into a sealed room with poisoned air. She can see the boys sitting outside, safe, but -_

_"Where is he? Where is Lucifer??"_

_"I'm right here, Detective!" He appears at the top of the staircase, straightening his cufflinks. His long legs bring him effortlessly down to her, on ground level - no indication of injury, no strained breathing. He's got a proud little smile on his face as he continues, "See? I told you everything would be alright."_

_He stops in front of her and she heaves a sigh of relief, staring up at his face for the briefest moment before throwing her arms around his shoulders and pulling him close. His body freezes, his shoulders hunch and his arms raise up helplessly. She whispers into his ear, "I'm glad you're okay."_

_She feels the lightest warmth of his tentative hands on her back, his disbelieving laugh huffing past her ear._

_Her heart still thundering in her ears, she reluctantly pulls back from the embrace. "I guess we make a good team, after all, don't we?"_

_He gazes down at her, eyes warm, and gives a tiny nod, which she returns before he hesitantly ventures, "This is... real, isn't it?"_

_She feels her mouth quirk in a smile, and their hands each move up to caress the other's temple, before moving forward to press their foreheads together, sharing air for a moment before Chloe pulls him in for another embrace._

Neither she nor Jay hear the door locks disengaging, nor the heavy door cracking open.


	20. Chapter 20

Mazikeen leaps lightly from Lucifer's grip as he lands just inside the building's gate. They lock gazes for a brief moment, then nod. Maze grabs her duffel and bolts around the side of the building while Lucifer shrugs his wings away. He straightens his cufflinks and a predatory smile spreads across his face as he stalks toward the front door. He places a hand on the immobile latch, sends a pulse of thought and it opens for him. Striding through the door, Lucifer does what he does best, he talks.

"Hello, Azazel!" He calls mockingly, "Here I thought I'd never have the debatable pleasure of your obsequious conversation again, and you turn up in my very own hometown!" He paces down the poorly lit hallway, shadows clinging to the walls, floor, and equipment, but Lucifer can see perfectly clearly. His eyes are roving everywhere, on high alert but his muscles are loose, nearly relaxed. He strains his ears for any hint of sounds beyond his own voice and footsteps, but hears none as he makes his way to the chamber where he had once been trapped by the false Sinnerman. 

"Why are you hiding, Aza? It _was_ your intention to draw me here, was it not? I admit I'll be just a tad disappointed if you've changed your mind." The room shows signs of recent habitation, a bucket that had seen some use as a Porta-loo, a half-drunk bottle of water and some protein bar wrappers. There is a very slight tang of blood in the air, but it is nearly overshadowed by the scent of fear and male sweat. 

_So someone else is being kept here as well. Or..._ was.

Having learned his lesson the first time around, Lucifer does _not_ enter the room, but moves on down the hall. He's putting on an award-winning show of nonchalance, but his nerves are strained nearly as much as his ears. He can hear no pounding of doors, no voices. Ah, _there_ , some faint movement ahead.

Lucifer trails down the hallway, seeing the disturbances in the dust on the floor where feet have recently passed, and apparently been dragged.

 _Not dead, just unconscious. Not Chloe. Not the Detective._ A little wriggle of fear begins in his belly and starts to slowly make its way up beneath his ribcage, but he tamps it down and glides on silent feet in the direction he heard the movement echoing from, keeping up a steady stream of unconcerned, inane chatter. He tenses as he hears a gutteral growl, and looks down to find a damn _cat_ , of all things, with a freshly dead rodent gripped in its teeth. He must have caught the echoes of the scuffle.

 _Damn. Well, nothing for it but to keep calm and carry on,_ _then. And really hope you're the cat in this little scenario, not the rat._

He continues to follow the drag marks down the wide hallway, making no attempt at stealth, but no longer calling out to the demon. Clearly, he will reveal himself when he's ready, but if Lucifer can find and retrieve the Detective in the meantime, all the better.

*************

Mazikeen slips silently through the back entrance, blades in hand and duffle secured to avoid any telltale noises. She ghosts up a flight of stairs to a metal landing that encompasses the entire bay. She moves like a shadow, flickering from cover to cover with nostrils flaring wide as she searches for that familiar acrid scent of home.

As she moves along the elevated walkway, she can hear Lucifer's entrance at the front of the building. His voice is echoing too much to hear words, but the taunting, singsong quality of his cadence comes through with perfect clarity. She smirks to herself.

 _I'll give him that. He is_ really _good at pissing people off._

She catches a whiff of sulfur and ash, and watches the level below for any hints of movement. She catches a flash of shaggy brown hair above a dusty crate. She pads forward along the walk on silent feet, until she's nearly directly above him.

She braces a hand on the railing and lightly vaults over the side, landing in a ready crouch just outside of easy striking distance.

Azazel bares his teeth at her. "Ah, Mazikeen! I was hoping you weren't too grievously injured to make it to the party. Did you bring a date?"

"My plus-one is making the social rounds right now. I'm sure you'll see him soon enough." She returns the snarl, and touches the blade of a knife to the tip of her tongue. "If you live that long."

The two demons charge each other in a flurry of ferocious snarling and whirling blades.

*************

The drag marks end at a heavy door with multiple locks along the jamb. 

_Well, this looks like an excellent place to hold someone against their will._

He can hear muffled movement on the other side of the door, and places his hand on each mechanism, waiting for the click of the release before moving on to the next. He carefully runs a hand along the door, checking for tripwires, but finds none. He swings the door open quietly and his heart swells in his throat.

" _Detective?!"_ His voice comes out little more than a strained whisper as he launches himself across the room to her side. She is slumped against a wall next to a man in a cheap suit, but he can't spare any attention for the man until his trembling fingertips can feel her steady pulse beating against them. He breathes a deep sigh of relief, and gives her shoulder a gentle shake. "Detective? Come on, lazy daisy, let's have you then."

Chloe's head lolls toward him with a garbled vocalization that could be his name, but she doesn't wake. He presses his palm to her forehead, but she feels normal. A bit cool compared his furnace heat, but not abnormal for a human. He spares a glance for the other human inhabitant, and is not entirely surprised to recognize a weakly stirring Jay Lopez. The man is groggily sitting up from his own slumped position in the corner, one hand going carefully to his temple as the other cradles his ribcage.

Lucifer keeps one hand on Chloe's cheek, the other wrapped loosely around her right hand as Jay comes fully awake and notices they have company.

"Oh my God it's _you._ "

"Wrong deity." Lucifer scoffs. "Honestly, why does everyone confuse us? I'm his son but we look NOTHING alike. I'm far more handsome."

Jay goggles at him, mouth opening and closing like a landed fish.

"I am glad to know, Mr. Lopez, that you've been holding up your end of our bargain to not disappoint your sister. But now, we need to get the two of you out of here. Can you stand? I'd rather not carry you both, but I suppose I've had less pleasant experiences."

Jay staggers to his feet, leans against the wall for a moment before pushing away from it toward the door. Lucifer runs his thumb along Chloe's cheekbone gently before scooping her into his arms and standing smoothly, leading Jay back down the hall toward the front entrance. Elsewhere in the building he can hear Maze's battle cry, and spares a small smile at his ninja bartender doing her favorite work. 

_I hope she leaves some for me._ That thought is closely followed by a wash of light and warmth and a blood-curdling shriek of agony. _But really, I should know better than to expect that._

Jay makes it outside the door before he loses the contents of his stomach, dropping to his knees and supporting his weight against the wall as he heaves with miserable moans, cradling his bruised ribs. Lucifer strides a bit further away with Chloe before settling her on a smooth patch of unsoiled ground, kneeling with her torso propped against him and his arms securely wrapped around her. He pats her cheek and is again rewarded with a slight head movement and mumbling.

The shrieking has ceased from inside the warehouse, and Lucifer watches the door with laser focus. Several minutes later, Mazikeen strides through it, dragging a charred body unconcernedly behind her. She deposits the body next to Lucifer and starts cleaning her blades. She grins down at him, unmarked but for a thin trickle of blood down the side of her face. 

"She okay?" A rough nod at the Detective.

"She appears to be asleep, likely drugged, if Mr. Lopez here is anything to judge by."

Maze looks at Jay, who is resting nearby against the fence with a vacant expression, and starts to respond when a tiny vibrantly green subcompact car squeals to a stop outside the gate.

"Ohmigosh you guys, did you find her? Did you get Chloe, is she- JAY!!" Ella exits her car like an unstoppable force of nature, and takes in the scene. She drops to her knees next to her brother and performs a cursory exam, glances at Chloe and takes in Lucifer's reassuring nod that she is in no immediate danger. Then her gaze slides to the smoldering pile of flesh nearby. "Is that... Was that... Um. What did I miss?"

*************

Chloe feels herself being lifted, but remains trapped in her nightmares.

_"Detective Decker!" The gunman roars, "I need you to listen to me-"_

_Lucifer turns. "As much as I appreciate the well-timed interruption, you can't just walk into my club-"_

_The gunman shoots, the sound of the gunshot and acrid smell of cordite ricocheting around the crowded club. Lucifer's body folds forward, his hand pressing to his abdomen and coming away bloody as he collapses to the floor._

_"LUCIFER!" Chloe's cry rings into the sudden silence as she drops to her knees next to him, applying pressure to the wound as his gaze muzzily finds her. She works to get him propped up against a piece of furniture, where he proceeds to slowly bleed out during the hostage situation._

_Slip._

_Chloe is backing the woman toward the corner chosen for the breach, acutely aware of Lucifer's too-quiet form prone on the floor behind her._

_The whining whirr gives her just enough warning to dive away as the police breach the building, and she scrambles for the detonator, but the bomber gets it first. Desperate, she turns and throws herself across her partner's body, her head landing squarely against his chest. When she gets no reaction beyond a reflexive recoil, she fumbles frantically for a pulse before seeing his eyes are fixed on her face._

_"Are you okay?" She asks quietly._

_"You landed on my bullet wound," he wavers, "that was exactly the jolt of blinding pain I needed to bring me 'round." His smile is forced, but present. And it's exactly what she needs to see._

_"I'm sorry.."_

_"Detective, you threw yourself onto me," he gasps, "You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save me." His breaths are more shallow now, and she presses her hand to his pulse point again as he releases a sigh and goes still._

_"Lucif- medic! MEDIC!!"_

*************

"I meant what I said," Maze declares casually. "Nobody Molotov's me and gets away with it."

Lucifer shifts a bit closer to Azazel to examine Maze's handiwork, freeing a hand from the Detective to reach for the crispy corpse, when- 

"Do not touch," comes a sleepy, slurring voice from his arms, "the charred crotch." The Detective's eyes are slitted open, not truly focused but obviously at least a little aware of her surroundings.

He beams down at her groggy face, "Ah, hello Detective, welcome back!" He gives her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, "Not to worry, I wasn't aiming for the crotch this time-" He notices her eyes widening and whirls to meet the oncoming threat, bracing himself in front of her as the roasted body leaps up and launches itself at Lucifer with a mangled scream and darkly gleaming blade in hand.

A wall of gleaming white rises in front of her field of vision and she hears Lucifer roar out in pain as the left wing snaps forward. The right wing folds in on itself and something rolls squishily by her. Unable to really move, she rolls her eyes to follow it, seeing a very crispy head resting a few feet away, dribbling blood from the stump of a neck. 

She can hear Lucifer's panting breaths, a haunting echo from her recent dream and she wants to go to him, but can't make her limbs cooperate. She manages to claw weakly at the hem of his jacket, fingers barely brushing against the feathers trembling there, but he remains hunched away from her, keeping himself eerily still aside from his heaving shoulders.

"Oh. My." A soft exclamation comes from behind her and she manages to tilt her head enough to catch Ella's slack-jawed expression. Jay appears to be passed out at her side. "Lucifer? Are you... Okay?"

He speaks through gritted teeth, "I'm sure I'll be quite well, Miss Lopez, thank you. I just need, ah- Maze. A bit of help, if you would? I think the blade is one of our kind, and it-" a wet, sucking sound pierces the pause, "gahhh- may be broken off inside?"

Maze shakes off her stricken expression and appears at Lucifer's side, feeling the entry wound between his ribs with her fingers.

She looks at the dagger. "You're right. Inferior quality, a good inch of the blade is still inside. Lucifer... That's really not a good place for-"

"I'm aware, Mazikeen." He bursts out, eyes sliding back toward the Detective. Maze takes the hint and falls silent. "But I can hear sirens, so the police aren't far off. I can't... I can't put my wings away just yet. Miss Lopez, are you all right?"

Ella's expression is awed, still stuck gazing at the luminescent wings before her, but she manages to pull herself free long enough to answer dazedly, "Uh, yeah. We're, uh, we're good here, we'll just wait for the LAPD and you guys go, uh, take care of that little... Issue you've got going there."

Lucifer stands with difficulty and turns. Chloe can see a steady pulse of blood leaking from the wound, and hears his soft grunt as he picks up Maze to make their escape, but releases her almost as quickly. "I can't carry you right now, Mazikeen. Follow when you can?" 

Chloe moves her hand toward him, whimpering involuntarily as he lifts his wings to leave. She notices the primaries of the left one are stained with the demon's blood. He gives her a pained smile, not at all dissimilar from the one as he lay bleeding on the floor of Lux. "Not to worry, Detective, you're not to be rid of me just yet. Come to Lux, if you like. I'll... I'll not approach you without notifying you first, otherwise. I am. I am glad you're unharmed."

"Don't-" she croaks out, but his wings rise and he is gone with a rush of air.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some slight surgical gore here, my friends. If you're squeamish, you might skip the bits after Chloe internally asks Lucifer not to die. You should be safe again starting with the paragraph beginning with "Liquid sounds pour from Lucifer's lips "

Maze kicks the head back toward the body, and settles into a wide-legged stance, arms crossed as she surveys the scene before her. One mostly-immobile Decker. One passed out useless Lopez, and one divinely inspired Ellen. She hopes the police hurry up, because Lucifer's gonna need her sooner rather than later. Demon blades wreak havoc on celestials, and having one trapped inside so close to vital organs is not something to trifle with, even to a demon. 

****************

Chloe's eyes flutter closed again after Lucifer's departure, but she doesn't release her hold on consciousness. 

_Shouldn't have eaten that third protein bar._

She feels Ella come check on her, but doesn't respond to the gentle shake beyond an unintelligible murmur. Ella goes back to her brother, giving him a couple less gentle smacks about the face until she hears him enter protestingly into wakefulness, then listens to Ella cursing at him softly in Spanish. A small smile flickers across her face at her chastisement for worrying her and queries about how he's feeling, then finally asking what had happened. Jay's response only varies from what he told Chloe in that he makes no mention of any wrongdoing in the case he was a suspect for, he only tells Ella that Lucifer had warned him against ever disappointing her, and that he would be watching. 

Ella is quiet after this quick discussion, as the squad cars pull up in front of the gate. 

***********

Maze pulls out her phone and texts Amenadiel quickly, before the police arrive.

**Decker safe. Azazel dead. Lucifer injured. Demon blade. Check Lux. I'll be there ASAP.**

Uniformed officers and EMTs swarm the scene, and organized chaos ensues. 

They strap Decker to a gurney and walk Jay to another ambulance. Ellen wavers for a moment between the two, but Maze nods at her and walks next to her gurney so Ellen clambers into the back with Jay. One of the EMTs notices the blood trickling from Maze's temple and begins to reach for her, but wisely backs away from the ready look in her dark eyes. No one protests her presence in the back of the ambulance with the Detective.

Maze and the diminutive forensic scientist are interviewed while the other two are medically evaluated at the hospital. Decker starts to come out of her stupor and insists on being interviewed and released immediately. The officers grudgingly interview the slightly loopy Detective with assurances that they'll be able to find her later if they need more information.

Maze's phone beeps quietly with incoming texts, but she doesn't dare check them until the police are done with her.

Maze is allowed into Decker's room as she's signing her AMA discharge papers. She brings the bag of her belongings to the bedside and Chloe starts dressing with fumbling limbs. Ellen swans in the door just as Chloe finishes buttoning her jeans.

"I'm coming with you."

"Ellen-"

"Ella, your brother needs-"

Chloe and Maze both start to dissuade the younger woman, but she is immovable. "NO WAY are you guys getting out of here without me. Jay is sedated and resting comfortably as can be after what appears to be a torture session. WE are going to help Lucifer, and you are ALL going to tell me what the HELL is going on. Like, yesterday."

Decker starts to try to reason with Ellen, and Maze pulls out her phone.

"Uh, whatever we're deciding, we need to do it RIGHT NOW. Because I'm leaving."

Decker snatches at Maze's phone and pales visibly. "Let's go."

Ellen grabs the phone and reads the texts, "What does he mean Lucifer might be DYING?"

But the others are already scrambling out the door and down the hallway. She bolts after them.

******************

Amenadiel arrives on the balcony at the penthouse with Linda and Charlie in hand. Even though the demon is dead, neither of them felt safe parting ways just yet. 

There's a bloody handprint on the glass panel doors and another smear of blood along the left side of the doorframe. He follows the path, a feathery trail along the floor here, a dribble of blood there, smeary footsteps, as though Lucifer is staggering. The trail leads to the bathroom, where the door is closed, the shower running.

"Brother?" Amenadiel knocks on the door when he doesn't receive an answer. " _Lucifer,_ I'm opening the door. Maze says you're hurt." Not that Lucifer's ever been shy about being seen nude before. 

Amenadiel pushes open the door, and meets some resistance. He peers his head around the door itself and finds Lucifer sprawled, soaked and shirtless on the floor, bloody wings akimbo, with a first aid kit next to him, bloody hemostats in hand. There is an angry reddish black mark on the right side of his torso, between two ribs, it's healed on the surface, but nasty black bruising is spreading around and under it.

"Brother, what-" he pushes his way into the room, but Lucifer doesn't respond, even when his wings are crumpled by the door. Amenadiel feels around the wound and is immediately concerned about the extreme heat and tension of the skin around the wound. He scoops his brother into his arms and maneuvers him into the living room, settling his long limp body on the couch. Linda trails along after him and takes his place at Lucifer's side, trading Charlie into Amenadiel's arms as she comes to examine the patient. Amenadiel paces back to the bathroom, shuts off the shower and gathers the med kit, bringing it back into the living room with him.

Linda prises the bloody hemostats from Lucifer's slack fingers, and runs her hand along his ribs. "What was he trying to do?" She examines the instrument in her hand. "These are bloody almost up to the grips, he must have been fishing in the wound with them?"

Amenadiel's complexion has gone ashen. "Linda, Maze said he was injured with a demon blade. If there's a piece of the blade still inside, it will kill him. Hell-forged metal can be fatal to celestials. Trapped in a wound like that, it certainly will be. And the surface is healed over, so we can't keep digging for the piece. I don't have any demon blades, so we need either Maze here, or Chloe. Now."

Hours pass with no word from Maze. She must be tied up with the police. She knows the situation, she'll come when she can. Lucifer remains unconscious, occasionally groaning or muttering. His teeth start to chatter when he starts to shiver, and they remove his chilled, soaked trousers and move him into the bed where he can be covered more fully with heavy blankets. Amenadiel's texts to Maze get more desperate as time goes on, and calls remain unanswered. Charlie sleeps blissfully in his father's arms as he and Linda stare at each other, helpless and waiting.

Finally, the elevator chime announces the arrivals, and Maze, Ella, and a stumbling Chloe pour out of the doors like water tumbling through a breaking dam. 

*********

The Uber ride to Lux had been awkward and interminable. The poor driver was just trying his best to ignore the subject of Ella's interrogation and get them to Lux as quickly as possible with Maze breathing down his neck. Ella didn't bother to filter her questions. This is LA, people talk crazy stuff all the time, so her questions about the Devil getting stabbed, giant wings, an empty grave, a demon, and method actors really aren't too far out of the norm.

They arrive at Lux and Ella and Maze support Chloe in their dash to the elevator. When the doors start to open all three are already pushing their way out the door and onto the landing. Linda and Amenadiel stand, looking hopefully toward the group, but Lucifer is nowhere to be seen. 

Chloe glances around fearfully, and Linda tilts her head toward the bedroom, moving to intercept Ella, who is glued to Chloe's side.

"He's not conscious, we can talk out here-" she moves to usher Ella away from the still winged archangel currently residing in the next room.

"Oh no, nonononono, too late for that, Linda. I've seen his wings, and I need to see _my friend_ now." Ella leaves no room for argument, and brushes past a stunned Linda with Chloe gripping her arm for balance. "Honestly, I can't believe you guys kept me in the dark all this time. You're ALL my friends. But we'll deal with that later, first things first: Save Lucifer!"

A soft breath leaves them both at the sight of Lucifer shivering prone on the bed, the bends of his folded wings just visible above the top edge of the thick pile of blankets. His hair is slicked back and his face is pouring sweat as his body tremors uncontrollably. Chloe forgets to draw another breath for a long moment, lost in the pinched, painful expression displayed on his face.

They approach the bedside, and Chloe reaches forward to brush a curly lock of damp hair from his pale, sweat-soaked face. Ella is a warm, quiet presence beside her as she moves her hand down his face and neck. She lightly pulls the blanket edge downward, looking for the wound that she knows is hiding there. They both gasp as the extensive bruising is revealed, along with the sealed scar where the blade had entered. Chloe's fingers lightly graze the surrounding skin and immediately snatches her hand back as Lucifer groans in agony. 

"It needs to come out." Amenadiel's voice rumbles behind them. "We think he was trying to remove it himself when it either healed or he passed out before he could. We didn't have a blade to re-open it..."

"You didn't-?!" Ella sputters, indignant. "You idiots, use a knife! Anything, there might even be a scalpel in this little med kit! I get why you don't want his devilish self at the hospital, but Jeez Louise, you don't need special stuff just to-"

"Actually, Ella, they did." Maze's use of Ella's given name actually stuns her into temporary silence. "But now that we're here, we don't. Let's get busy. Amenadiel and I are probably going to be needed to restrain him. Who's going to do the cutting and pulling?"

All eyes turn to Linda, who sighs frustratedly. "How many times? _I am not this kind of Doctor!!"_

"Come on, Linda, you killed him one time..."

"I did NOT," she flares at Maze, "he did that himself!"

"Okay, that's true. But still-"

Lucifer interrupts the argument with another low, painful moan, his eyes making a brief appearance underneath slitted lids.

"Lucifer?" Chloe had drifted toward the conversation, but immediately is back at his side, thumb tracing along the scruff on his cheek. "Are you awake?"

The eyes aren't focused, but he gifts her with a faint "Det'v?" before slipping back under. A cold trickle of fear worms its way down her spine and she turns to the others. "Ella and I both have some field trauma training. Linda, if you can't do it, we can. But it has to be done NOW."

They gather the med kit, which does in fact contain a single use scalpel blade and handle. Maze disappears into the penthouse and returns with some restraints that Chloe decides not to think about right now, and Linda comes back to the bedroom with the freshly sterilized hemostats.

Unfortunately, they dont have any sedatives, so they have to count on restraint and hope that Lucifer stays unconscious for the duration of the procedure. Maze applies the restraints with practiced ease, and takes a position at the foot of the bed, bracing Lucifer's feet. Amenadiel takes his place at the head of the bed, focusing on Lucifer's arms and wings. 

With Ella having more medical experience of the two women, she had volunteered for the actual extraction of the blade, with Chloe as backup. She swabs the wound with disinfectant and they share a brief look before she makes the incision over the existing scar line. Lucifer's abdomen tenses, but he doesn't react beyond that and Chloe allows herself to breathe a small sigh of relief. 

_Good, Lucifer, just stay asleep. We're here, we can fix this. We're going to have a long conversation after this, so you are sticking around. I desire you to stay. No dying._

They flinch as blood gushes from the freshly opened wound like pressurized oil from the ground. The distension of his abdomen finally relieved from trapped blood after the entry wound had sealed, rivulets dripping down the side of his ribcage, pooling in the planes of his chest and stomach. Chloe grabs a towel and mops it away to improve Ella's visibility, and Ella picks up the hemostats, preparing to go after the fragment.

Ella's hand is remarkably steady as she inserts the instrument into the incision and probes deeper, questing after the piece of metal killing her friend. She feels the jaws hit something definitely not-flesh and stops to adjust her angle. 

"I think I've got it! Hold him guys, this... This isn't gonna feel good."

She gives the hemostats a final small twist before feeling the jaws close firmly around the broken blade and gives a quick look to everyone before nodding and blowing out a steadying breath. 

"Okay. Here goes."

The heavy silence is broken by Lucifer's agonized keening as she pulls the broken blade from the wound. More blood pours from the wound behind the blade, looking blackened, nearly as though it had been burned. His back arches away from the bed, and Maze and Amenadiel are suddenly hard pressed to keep the archangel still under the onslaught.

Liquid sounds pour from Lucifer's lips, Chloe doesn't recognize the language, but it has the cadence of begging. Tears are streaking down Amenadiel's face, and Maze has her blank mask firmly in place. Charlie begins to wail in the next room in sympathy with his uncle, and Linda flees the room to tend to the baby.

Lucifer falls silent with a gasp, and Ella raises the brutal chunk of metal in victory. Chloe grabs a fresh towel and applies pressure to the wound with one hand, feeling his ribs shudder beneath the pressure. Her other hand is busy tracing along his face, trying to smooth away the creased lines of pain etched there still, murmuring to him quietly.

The angel, demon, and impromptu surgeon share a silent look of victory until Chloe gives a strangled cry. 

"He's not breathing!"


	22. Chapter 22

A flurry of activity follows those words, Ella drops the hemostats and brushes Chloe's fingers away, feeling for a pulse. Amenadiel and Maze abandon their posts and draw toward the side of the bed where Ella and Chloe are standing, and Linda rushes into the room clutching a freshly soothed angel-baby.

"He's got a pulse, let's give him a second. It's not any weaker than it was before."

A moment passes, and another, Lucifer's chest remains stubbornly stationary.

Without waiting further, Chloe leans forward, pinches Lucifer's nose, and breathes into his mouth. His chest rises and falls. 

"Oh Jeez," Ella exclaims, "The blade must have damaged his diaphragm! Now what do we do, no way I can fix that!"

 _I mean it, Lucifer, you are NOT dying._ Chloe continues to breathe for her partner, waiting for the others to decide on a course of action.

"Decker. You've got to leave."

Chloe makes a negative sound as she fills Lucifer's lungs again.

"No, Chloe, Maze is right! Ella, get her out of here, Lucifer can heal once she's gone!"

Chloe's eyes widen as she realizes they're right, but they start to water at the thought of leaving him right now. Ella is plucking at her elbow, and Maze finally shoves her away. 

"I can kiss him until he starts breathing, Decker. We've got this, now GO. Take the Vette."

"It's not _kissing_ , Maze."

"Yeah, yeah, I've got this. Now beat it, Decker!" 

Chloe waits to make sure Maze is administering breath properly before whirling and running with Ella toward the elevator. She just remembers to snag the keys as Ella hits the button for the garage, and they run pell-mell for the Vette once deposited on that floor, not even stopping to open the doors, but both vaulting over the doors into the seats of the convertible.

Chloe passes the keys to Ella, who had wound up in the driver's seat, and she cranks it to life and peels out of the garage like it was on fire.

"I have wanted to drive this car for SO LONG!" She squeals as they pull into the surprisingly light late-night traffic.

Chloe doesn't know how far she needs to go for her mortalizing effect to lessen, so they head toward the city's outer limits. Ella asks more questions as they go, partially to distract Chloe from staring at her phone waiting for updates, and partially because her scientists mind is racing a million miles an hour with questions about what just happened.

"So, we had to leave, because he's... Breakable when he's around you?"

"Hm? Yeah. Basically. When he's near me he can get hurt, bleed... Die." The last word was small, and crackled unpleasantly in her throat.

"And that's why we were able to do the removal with just a regular scalpel, but Linda and Amenadiel couldn't, because you were there. Wow, Chloe. He must _really love you._ "

Chloe's eyes drift from her phone screen to Ella, puzzled by that statement.

"Think about it. He's been at your side in all sorts of dangerous situations, knowing full well what could happen to him. I mean, jeez, just in the last year he's been stabbed in the shoulder, nearly chopped by an axe, and shot in the gut in front of both of us!"

"I _know!"_ Chloe bursts out in a wail, "and it's all my fault! Ella, you don't know half of what he's gone through, just since he's met me! Hell, _I_ barely know half of it, and what I know is nearly unbearable!" Tears trickle down her face, releasing the fear, stress, and guilt she's been bottling up for months.

A warm hand rests on her shoulder, and Ella gives her a warm gaze before returning her eyes to the road. "I'm sorry you've had to go through this alone, Chloe. But I'm here now. And Lucifer's gonna be fine. And when this is all over, I'm gonna kick every single one of you in the shins for letting me believe he was just a method actor for all this time."

That last admission startles Chloe out of her tears and a watery chuckle gives way to real, if slightly hysterical laughter which ceases abruptly as her phone chimes. The text is from Linda.

**Breathing on his own. Should be okay to return in about half an hour.**

"See?" Ella slides an 'I-told-you-so' smirk in her direction. "Kicks in the shins for everyone, in no time."

Both women share relieved laughter as the former car thief takes the opportunity to open up the Vette on the freeway.

*************

Thirty minutes later on the button, Ella and Chloe step off the elevator to be greeted by their friends gathered on the settee. Someone (probably Linda) has taken a moment to go around and remove the dust covers from everything in an effort to make the place look lived-in again. The relief on their faces tells the women what they need to know, but they make a beeline for the bedroom stairs anyway, needing to see it for themselves, to wipe away their last view of Lucifer laying still as death, with bluing lips and a sheen of sweat on his brow.

This sight is much more welcome. While still unconscious, his color has improved and the hectic sweat has been wiped away. Chloe reaches the bed first and peels the covers down, noticing that he is no longer shivering and there are less layers on top of him already. The bruising is still evident, but is no longer completely black, starting to green and purple out around the edges, and the wound itself is covered by a gauze square taped in place, with only a small spot of blood seeped through. She reaches down and rests her hand over the gauze pad, feeling the lack of that terrible heat and tension that had been present before. Her legs suddenly feel watery and she sinks to her knees next to the mattress, her forehead falling forward to rest against his forearm, which is draped across his stomach.

"Whoa, easy girl!" Ella supports her before she can slither the rest of the way to the ground. I think you need some rest, nearly as much as Sleeping Devil there. C'mon. Let's get you set up."

When Chloe refuses to leave, Ella walks her around to the other side of the bed and helps her get settled under the covers. With a final glance at her charges, Ella smiles to herself and heads into the other room to mine some more answers from the rest of her Tribe and Amenadiel. 

Chloe's eyes are heavy, but she wriggles a bit closer to Lucifer's side of the bed, managing not to get tangled in his wings, but close enough to reach over and rest a hand on his chest, feeling the warm reassurance of his heartbeat under her palm, the deep, even rise and fall as he breathes. These are what lull her into sleep at last, proof that he's here, alive, and close to her.

******************

She awakens some time later from a rather pleasant dream of being wrapped in a cocoon. She doesn't open her eyes right away, not wanting to dispel the pleasantness of the dream. Slowly, her drowsy brain registers that she is very warm, and someone even warmer is wrapped around her. Memories from the past few days come trickling in and she cracks her eyes open, to be greeted by a gleaming wall of white feathers encompassing her. She moves her gaze down and sees a dark tousled head nestled into the space where her neck meets her shoulder, and an iron band of an arm is wrapped gently across her waist.

 _Of course he gravitates to the warm body, even when he's half-dead and unconscious._ A wry chuckle stays tucked behind her sternum, not wanting to disturb his rest. She frees the arm trapped between them and curls it up to caress his stubbled cheek. He's curled against her on his left side, she can see that the bruising has subsided along his ribs nicely, though it's definitely still present, and will be uncomfortable if he wakes soon. She runs her other hand along his arm, and rests her arm across his waist mirroring his own position, and lets herself drift back to sleep.

***********

Lucifer doesn't wake all at once. He feels warm and safe in his little dream world, both things he's felt precious little of for the past couple of centuries since returning to Hell. The surface he's laying on is soft and warm, and he's wrapped around a welcoming body that's even more so. He inhales deeply as his body awakens, nuzzling his nose against a smooth shoulder and enjoying a familiar, slightly floral fragrance. His arm tightens around a waist and a sleepy mumble pierces through the sluggish fog surrounding his brain.

"Mm, G'morning," Chloe murmurs into his ear. Into his ear, because his head is buried in her shoulder. He stiffens immediately and starts to pull away when he notices his wings are wrapped around the both of them like a feathery cocoon-

_What on-_

"Hey." Chloe's eyes sharpen a bit as she reaches true wakefulness, a line of concern etching her brow. "Are you awake? Lucifer?"

"Chloe. Detective." He pulls back the arm encircling her waist as though he's been burned, and tries to roll back and fold his wings away, but stops and hisses in pain at the movement.

"Easy, Lucifer, it's okay," she starts to move toward him, but he scoots further back, nearly panicked now.

"I'm sorry, Detective, I really didn't intend to-"

"Hey, buddy! Look who's finally awake!" Ella has clearly arrived to check on them. "And weren't you two just adorbs all snuggled up in that wing nest!" 

Lucifer's jaw drops, and he is torn between being horrified at being called adorbs, and holy terror at Ella casually mentioning his wings. As he's in his bed. With the Detective. 

His brain short circuits for just a moment, and he can only utter one, very confused syllable. "Wha-?"

He's nearly convinced himself that he's dreaming, when Ella's peal of laughter brings a slightly mussed Linda into the room. 

"What-Lucifer! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

His wide eyes must speak volumes, because Ella's laughter quickly subsides. "Did we break him?"

Indignation spurs his brain back into halting motion. "I beg your pardon, but the Devil does not break."

"Sorry dude, but you very clearly had a blue screen of death moment there. Are you okay now?"

"I." He looks nervously at Chloe and edges imperceptibly further away. "I think I'm well enough to be going on with. Just a bit, er, tender, in places." He looks down at his hand grazing the gauze square taped to his ribs, rusty spot delineating the wound he's now remembering.

Chloe sees his look, and rushes to reassure him. "We got it out. The broken blade. It's gone. You'll be fine in no time."

"How long was I out?"

"Three years." Chloe doesn't miss a beat.

Lucifer goggles at her for a moment, then the role reversal comes to him and he relaxes into a warm smile as Linda and Ella trade a confused look. 

"Touché, Detective. And how long have you been waiting to trot out that little gem?"

"Four years." She grins up at him and reaches out her hand. Hesitantly, he stretches out a hand to take it.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we're very close to the end now, my friends, unless the story has other ideas (and I truly hope it does not, I'm much happier as a reader of stories than a writer of them.)

Chloe had very little trouble convincing Lucifer that he really needed to lay back down once he had nearly collapsed trying to stand up. Ella and Linda left the Devil in her capable hands, and she gently drew him back down onto the mattress.

She remained in the same place where she had awakened, but Lucifer curled at the far end of the mattress, back to her, huddled under the blankets with his wings mantled about him. 

Chloe's heart twists as she reads his pain in the set of his shoulders, the tenseness in his body. She stretches out a hand and rests it gently on the smooth skin of his back, just between where each wing erupts from his shoulders. The feathers ripple, and the wings contract even more tightly around him.

"Is this... Okay?" She asks quietly. "If it's not, tell me. I just. I just need to touch you right now, to make sure you're really here."

He's silent for so long, she nearly pulls her hand away, but then the tension bleeds from him in a heavy sigh and he whispers, "It feels heavenly. It's nice."

She smiles, and stretches her fingers to gently stroke the tiny scapular feathers that soften the edge between human skin and celestial wing. Lucifer hums in response, and she takes the opportunity to scoot over and snuggle against his back, her forehead pressed where her hand had just been. "Still okay?"

"Mm." Lucifer's assent is accented by further relaxation of his taut muscles, and she snakes an arm over his ribs. He reaches to take her hand, and presses it against his chest, just over his heart, and they both fall asleep with Chloe's warm breath suffusing through his feathers.

When she wakes this time it's more sudden. She has molded herself against his back, knees drawn up in a spooning position. Their hands had fallen apart, but he has relaxed back into her with his wings held loosely wrapped. Chloe can hear tentative, early-morning movement in the main penthouse and her bladder is demanding attention, so she reluctantly pulls away and rolls off the far side of the bed. Lucifer mutters a protest as she does, rolling and reaching for her warmth, but settles for snagging her pillow with his reaching hand and wrapping around it instead, face buried into it in an unconscious echo of her own position just a few days ago.

Once her immediate needs are taken care of, she looks in the mirror, aghast. It's amazing what less than 3 days of stress and being drugged can do. There are dark bags like bruises under her bloodshot eyes. Her hair is snarled into an impossible Gordian knot, and she feels a terrible need for a shower. She grimaces as she attacks her mangled hair with a brush, then glances behind her. 

_Well, at least I figured out how to work this monstrosity of a shower weeks ago._

She smiles to herself as she gathers a towel and one of Lucifer's robes and proceeds to scrub the last vestiges of abduction from her body.

When she emerges from the bathroom toweling her hair dry, she immediately checks on Lucifer, who is still sound asleep, face buried into her tightly clutched pillow. She stops by the bed for a moment and lightly threads her fingers through his loose, curly hair, then makes the trek back to the real world beyond the doorway.

She nods to Linda, who is up feeding Charlie, and snags her phone off the charger. She checks the time on her phone and decides it's far too early to call or text Dan or Trixie. She sees some texts in her history updating them both of her location and condition, and it looks as though Dan intends to arrive at the penthouse with Trixie in a few hours. Chloe wonders how Amenadiel convinced him to wait. Ella, Maze, and Amenadiel are nowhere to be seen, and Chloe glances around. 

"They're asleep in the guest rooms. No one wanted to leave you guys last night." Linda's voice is low, and a little rusty this morning. Chloe looks up and confirms that her eyes are red-rimmed, as though she's been crying. Linda notices her look and quirks the corner of her mouth in a small smile. "It's been a long few days for us all, Chloe. How are you feeling?"

"I'm...okay." Chloe thinks about that answer and is surprised to find that it's the truth. She fidgets with the lapel of Lucifer's oversized robe. "The last few days have felt a bit like the sky was falling, I'm not gonna lie, and I am really tired. But Lucifer is here, and well, and so are the rest of us, and I'm okay." She offers her friend a soft smile and Linda holds out a hand, which Chloe takes and squeezes. They sit in companionable early-bird silence as Charlie has his (very) early breakfast. When he drops off to sleep, both women decide to go back to bed as well. Might as well get another couple hours rest, before Dan and pandemonium arrive in the morning.

Chloe weaves her way back up the stairs leading to Lucifer's bedroom, and makes a pit stop for another of his shirts. She just can't force herself to put her old clothes back on again, with all the sweat, dust, and Lucifer's blood on them. She shivers. Those might just have to be burned. She looks down at her sleeping partner, this man she loves, and feels her lips curve into a gentle smile. She persuades the sleeping Devil to release her pillow, and with a content mumble he happily swaps her into his warm embrace instead. She chuckles lightly as his nose finds the hollow space under her ear again.

_And apparently you're a bit of a snuggler when you're sleepy. Still so many things to learn._

She tucks one hand under his cheek, and the other arm around his ribs, nestles her chin into his fluffy hair and drifts off into sleep's warm waters.

**************

She only gets a split second's warning, a shouted, "Mommy!!" from the doorway before her daughter launches herself onto her sleeping form. She emerges from sleep with a groggy "Oof!" and her now-empty arms wrap themselves around the tiny body quivering against her. Confused, she twists her head around. Lucifer is gone but his place is still warm, and Dan is slowly coming up the steps into the room, trailed at a discreet distance by Ella, Linda, and Amenadiel. Chloe offers them a smile, then turns her attention to reassuring her daughter. Several minutes later Trixie's sniffles are subsiding, and Chloe registers that the shower is running. Dan sits on the mattress beside her, and Chloe pulls herself and Trixie into a propped sitting position.

The other three make a group excuse about making breakfast and depart the room, and the little family is alone together. Dan leans in for a hug, and Chloe can feel the tenseness ease in his shoulders when she and Trixie both wrap an arm around him. 

"I'm okay." She whispers to both of them. "I'm okay, just really, really tired. Lucifer and Maze got us out, and we... We don't have to worry about the bad guy ever again." She squeezes her eyes shut and tries not to think about a charred head rolling past her like a croquet ball.

Trixie's eyes appear from where her face has been buried in her mother's chest. "Daddy says Lucifer got hurt? Is he still in the hospital?" Her voice is tiny.

"No, baby, he's here too. He did get hurt by the bad man, but I think he's feeling a little better. We'll just need to be gentle with him for awhile, okay sweetie?" Her daughter nods solemnly and leans her head back against her mother. Chloe can smell sugary, eggy goodness emanating from the kitchen and decides Ella must be in charge of cooking. She hears the shower shut off and realizes they've been sitting in silence for quite some time. 

"Hey Monkey. Can you give me and your Dad some time to talk? I think Ella might have some French toast for your if you ask nicely." Trixie looks between her parents for a moment before relenting, and clambering off the bed.

Chloe gives Dan the details she remembers of her kidnapping and rescue, sans winged decapitation and supernatural surgery 101. Maze had told the unis at the scene that she had decapitated the kidnapper after he made a final lunge at Chloe, leaving out Lucifer's involvement in the rescue entirely. Dan has already read the police report, so doesn't bat an eye at the fate of the kidnapper. Knowing Maze, he's really not surprised the man didn't survive the encounter. He knows Lucifer wasn't mentioned in the report, but he trusts Chloe's judgement enough that the omission of his presence doesn't really bother him.

"So, is he back now?" Dan's eyes soften as her face crumples. "Hey,"

"I don't know, Dan, we haven't had a chance to talk about anything yet. He was recovering and we were both exhausted and just needed sleep. I'm not letting him leave until we've had a long conversation, at any rate." Her voice drops with emotion at the thought of him leaving again, and Dan squeezes her shoulder companionably. 

"If anyone can work it out, you two can." His smile is sad, but genuine. "Don't let him run again, Chlo'. Not without getting it all out in the open."

Chloe gives him a small smile. Linda has helped Dan so much these last few months. His irrational anger at Lucifer for Charlotte's death has cooled considerably, and he seems to be dealing with the grief now, rather than simply burying it.

Lucifer emerges from the bathroom then in a cloud of steam, thankfully wingless, and fastening the last button on his navy waistcoat. He's still paler than usual, a bit haggard, with circles under his eyes which are rivals for hers. She can also tell that he's favoring his right side, and she finds her eyes lingering on the spot where the gauze square should be. 

"Yes, Detective, I've changed my bloody bandage. The wound is healing nicely." His voice is breezy, matter-of-fact, as though it were a bandaid for a paper cut, not a reminder of a wound that had nearly killed him less than a day ago. "Good morning Daniel, I-"

"LUCIFER!!!" The shriek gives Lucifer just enough time to brace and protect his injured side as Trixie barrels up the stairs and launches herself at her missing friend. Even braced, he doesn't stand a chance against the onslaught in his weakened state, and they both tumble to the marble floor, the Devil curled around the slip of a girl with a weak "Whoof!" sound. Trixie is crying again, even harder than before- great gulping sobs through which no speech is possible.

Chloe starts from the bed to stage a rescue since Dan and Lucifer both seem paralyzed against this tiny attacker, when Lucifer's hands, which had been raised helplessly at his chest slowly reach down to embrace her daughter. "Yes," he puffs, "good morning- hh-to you too, Offspring. I had- hh- forgotten how exuberant your greetings can be." He pats her on the back in what is probably supposed to be a reassuring manner, but winds up looking more like how one would greet an overhappy Labrador.

Trixie doesn't let go, and Lucifer manages to wriggle them both into a sitting position, Trixie curled against his chest in his lap. He looks to the parents, baffled at this clinging limpet he's been saddled with.

"She's, um. She's really missed you. And been worried about you." Chloe offers "We, uh, we all have."

Maze wanders into the room then, probably drawn by Trixie's distress. She takes in the situation and barks a laugh. "Man!! I never have my phone ready when I need it. Nice take-down, little human!" Having ascertained that no one is currently upsetting her favorite human, she paces back to the living area.

Trixie shakes her head and mumbles something, but her face is still buried in Lucifer's shirt.

"Sorry, Urchin, I couldn't catch that through my sternum..."

The head turns slightly just long enough to wail, "You didn't say goodbye! We thought you were gone forever!!" 

Lucifer's face grows even paler. 

_How can I explain to this small human that's exactly what was supposed to happen? I shouldn't be here now, their concern should not be for me._

  
Chloe must read some of this on his face, for she removes herself from his bed and comes to fold herself on the floor next to the unlikely pair. 

She reaches out to gently ruffle the child's hair and quietly speaks to the girl, but Lucifer feels the words resonate in his own chest.

"Hey Monkey. Lucifer knows that we love him, and missed him while he was away, but you know he couldn't help that he had to leave. We don't know yet if he can stay with us, but we're going to do everything we can to try to make that happen." She raises her eyes to lock with his. "Okay?"

This earns a muffled response into Lucifer's shirt from the offspring, and a silent nod from the Devil himself. "Now, you remember that Lucifer is hurt? I need you to stand up so we can make sure his wound is okay after that fall, okay?"

The child immediately scrambles up, and the Devil protests the exam, "Detective, I assure you I am entirely-" but Chloe's probing fingers elicit a hiss of reaction, and there is a small spreading stain of blood through the silk waistcoat. "Oh, bollocks. Well, I'd best tend to that..." And he's on his feet and speeding back toward the bathroom while Trixie stands chagrined at reinjuring her friend.

Chloe squeezes her hand and leaves her daughter with Dan to trail after Lucifer. She knocks on the closed door, but doesn't wait for an acknowledgement before entering. Lucifer turns as he's unbuttoning the blood-spotted shirt, but doesn't comment on her presence.

"I need to get some salt for the blood on the waistcoat. If the stain sets there will be no help for it, and I'm rather fond of that suit..."

"We'll deal with that. First, we deal with the reason for the stain." She pushes his stilled hands aside and finishes unbuttoning the shirt, pushing it off his shoulders before examining and removing the soaked gauze pad. At his protesting sound, she presses a thicker pad to the oozing wound and places his hand over it, admonishing him to apply pressure there while she sends Trixie for the salt for his waistcoat. 

"Are you alright?" She asks quietly, once the apologetic Urchin has been gently shooed from the room again.

"I- will be quite all right, Detective." His voice is soft, and the corner of his mouth twitches. "Barring any further run-ins with rogue spawn cannonballs."

Her eyes are locked on his, and he watches her smile light them from within, like sunlight sparkling on water. " I don't think she'll do that again until she's sure you're recovered. She feels really badly about reopening the wound." She rocks up on her tiptoes to press an impulsive kiss to his lips.

It's over before he can register it's happening, and he clears his throat softly. "I know she does, Detective." He lowers his gaze. "It's nothing to concern yourselves about, I'll be fit as a fiddle in a matter of days."

A frown flits across her face, and her voice becomes tentative, "Lucifer-" she pauses, unsure now is the time to start this conversation, but bulls ahead anyway. "You had started calling me Chloe more often, before. But now-"

His eyes flick up to hers and back down , registering her expression before watching her steady fingers reapply his bandage. "Well, I- I don't really know where we stand at this point in time, Detective. I thought it best to... revert to old habits until we can have that discussion."

"How long has it been? For you, there?"

"Detective..."

"How long, Lucifer."

"I don't know, exactly, time... It's not the same there." He tries to prevaricate before wilting beneath her gaze "Three hundred years. Give or take a few decades."

"Lucifer.." she breathes, and pulls him close. Her arms wrap warmly around his bare waist, below the tender wound, and he hesitates for only a moment before returning the embrace, resting his chin on the top of her head with a weary sigh.


	24. Chapter 24

A fist thuds against the bathroom door and they break apart.

"Hey! Demons gotta pee, too ya know?"

Chloe grabs the stained waistcoat and Lucifer opens the door and heads for his closet to choose yet another shirt.

Maze slips past Chloe in the doorway with a smirk and a side eye as Chloe's face flushes. Chloe takes the waistcoat and saltshaker to the sink in the kitchen and begins blotting the stain. She's got it taken care of by the time Lucifer reappears and he takes it from her with a thanks to hang it dry.

Chloe takes a seat next to Trixie at the bar after filling her plate with French toast, and steals the syrup from her daughter's sticky fingers. Ella joins them and the only sound for long moments is the scrape of forks against plates. 

"How's Jay, Ella?"

Ella takes a quick swig of orange juice and a wide smile crosses her face. "He's doing really well, in fact, I need to go pick him up this afternoon, he's getting released today. He's really just still sore, but that will go away faster if he's up and moving around rather than sitting in a hospital bed all day."

Chloe grins at Ella's excitement, then turns to her daughter. "Okay Monkey. No school today, but back tomorrow, yeah? And you're with your dad tonight because I've got to wrap things up here before I can go back to work, too. So. What do you want to do?"

Trixie hesitates a moment before asking, "Can we stay here with Lucifer today? Or if we go, can he come with us??"

"Awwww, " Ella squeals, "Your kiddo is SO SWEET."

Chloe swallows to keep her throat from closing up. "Sweetie, I know you missed Lucifer, but he's still not healed and I'm sure he's exhausted-"

"As I recall, Beatrice, you've never waited for an invitation to come to my home before," the Devil sweeps into the room with a raised eyebrow and continues, "but of course you and your mother are _always_ welcome here." He transfers the eyebrow to Chloe with a gentle smile, and her cheeks fill with color for the second time that morning.

 _Does he know? He must know._ How does he know??

"I'm afraid your mother is right, however, I'm not likely to be good company today. I don't want to be out and about if I'm going to be springing bleeding leaks like an old dinghy every so often, and I am quite knackered still. But your company, my dears, is always my greatest pleasure." He takes Trixie's hand and gives her a gallant bow, lowering his forehead to touch the backs of her knuckles rather than placing a kiss to them.

Trixie giggles and flicks her eyes toward her mother. Ella smothers a giggle herself watching Chloe try to hide her mortification and makes a mental note to ask her about it later. 

"Well, I guess my invite got lost in the mail, but luckily I had plans today anyway." Ella chirps. "Engraved invitation or not, I WILL be back tonight, and I will have questions. Consider yourself warned, buddy."

"Duly noted, Miss Lopez." Lucifer graces her with a mischievous grin. "I shall be happy to answer any and all questions you have, and look forward to you believing every word, darling."

Ella leaps up from her stool and throws her arms around Lucifer, who for once does not protest beyond a slight eye roll for Chloe's sake. He pats her awkwardly on the tops of her shoulders and steps back the moment she releases him.

"Miss Lopez. I do want to thank you. Amenadiel told me this morning what you did for me. I can't... I don't... You-" he sighs heavily and his eyes are soft. "There are no words, Miss Lopez. You have my gratitude, and more. My friendship. Ask, and anything you need is yours."

"Lucifer, you're my friend. That's how it works." Ella reaches for him and takes one of his hands in one of hers. "You were keeping tabs on my delinquent brother, _from Hell_ , to keep him from disappointing me. That's why we saw you in the precinct the other day isn't it? You were checking on me to see if you could get a lead on Jay?"

"Ah, you did see me, then. Yes, well, you're right in one, I was attempting to track your brother during my very brief visit."

"Oh, we saw you all right!" Ella crows, crossing her arms. "And don't think I'm leaving without finding out how you pulled that little appearing/disappearing trick!"

Chloe's eyes sharpen at that reminder, she had nearly forgotten about that with everything else going on. 

Lucifer heaves a dramatic sigh. "It's a talent of mine, sort of the polar opposite of my magnetism. I call it a fade. As long as I can concentrate properly, I can walk unnoticed nearly anywhere. People usually just walk around me without even registering I'm there. It's not something I've used often here on Earth- being the center of attention is ever so much more _interesting_! But it does come in right bloody useful in Hell."

"If you don't use it here on Earth, then why were you using it at the precinct?" Chloe asks, her voice ragged.

"You know why, Detective." His gaze remains fixed upon his gleaming shoes."You _know_ why."

Chloe stands and slowly approaches her partner. "You're right, Lucifer- I do know." She closes the gap between them and wraps her arms around him. This time his arms don't reciprocate the embrace and his back remains stiff and straight, but she doesn't let go right away. Finally, he softens, patting her back gently before stepping away, keeping his gaze averted. Trixie and Ella share a glance and a silent thumbs up.

Dan chooses that moment to come out of the guest room where he's been catching up with Amenadiel, and their celestial conversation is brought to an abrupt end.

Dan sits in Chloe's vacated stool and digs into the congealing remains of her French toast. Lucifer heads to his wall of whiskey and chooses one seemingly at random, pouring himself a tumbler, and another for Maze as she stalks into the room and catches his eye.

Dan glances at the pair of them and shakes his head. "Dude, it's barely 10 AM."

"What part of 'Devil' is difficult to understand, Daniel?" Lucifer raises his glass in a snarky toast before knocking back the remaining liquid. 

"Whatever, man, it's probably like a vitamin or something at this point." He gives Lucifer a small smile to take any sting from the words. An olive branch, of sorts. Maybe a twig.

Lucifer pours himself another glass, and collapses quietly into the settee. Not quite isolating himself, but not really taking part in the buzzing breakfast conversation either. Ella meets Chloe's eye, and turns to engage Trixie in a conversation about the anime character on her shirt. Chloe takes the opportunity to wander in Lucifer's direction.

Lucifer has chosen the short arm of the L-shaped sofa as his perch, so Chloe decides not to push boundaries by sitting directly next to him. That would put her nearly in his lap, and while she now knows that is not an uncomfortable place to be, there's a place and time- and this is certainly not it.

She sits on the longer arm of the couch, just around the corner from Lucifer's position, Lucifer's legs are long enough that his knees could easily brush Chloe's if they both lean forward, so it's a good place to have a quiet conversation. 

He watches her warily over the rim of his glass, eyebrows up in inviting query. To Chloe's mind, daring her to do her worst.

She meets his eyes and lifts her chin. 

_Okay, Lucifer. You want the worst? Audience or not, here comes the biggest, most fearsome thing I've got to say to you._

She moistens her suddenly dry lips, and hopes this doesn't go, quite literally, to Hell. "Lucifer. Before anything else happens, or anything else is said, or suspected, or inferred, there is something I need to say to you. And I need you to listen, very carefully, because I think you're going to have a hard time hearing me." Her voice is quiet, but steady.

His eyebrows have lowered during this little prelude, and his blank mask is sliding into place, readying for damage control. "All right, Detective, you have my word, I am all ears." His voice is even, and flat. She recognizes the tone, it's what hers has sounded like these past months, every emotion sealed away somewhere safe.

"Lucifer," she leans forward, elbows on her bare knees, she only now realizes she's still wearing his shirt. It's so large on her it wears like a knee-length dress. She shakes herself out of her reverie, and stops herself from playing with the cuffs. "I love you."


	25. Chapter 25

Lucifer's eyebrows jump in surprise, and his poker face starts to crack. This isn't the line of attack he was preparing for.

"I still love you. I haven't stopped, can't even imagine stopping loving you. Ever." She pulls in a shaky breath and continues before he can interrupt her. "I've loved you for a long time, Lucifer, even when I was trying to convince myself it was the opposite. Since before that kiss on the beach, even. I tried to fight it so hard, even knowing how happy you make me, and I'm done being stupid, Lucifer. I can't keep making the same stupid choices over and over. I am not backing down, I am not running away, and I am absolutely not going to let you do those things, either." She's proud that her tone has stayed even and calm, and relieved that no one across the room seems to notice the intensity of the pair on the settee. 

As promised, Lucifer listens to his Detective carefully. He hears every syllable uttered in that soft voice, and does his level best to comprehend, and- even more difficult- _believe_ them. Her eyes are blazing into his, and he can feel his carefully crafted composure cracking. He waits a beat, to see if she has more to say, before he takes a breath and begins his rebuttal.

"D-"

"I swear to your _FATHER_ , Lucifer," her voice has lowered to a growl that would not be out of place in Hell. "If you call me Detective right now that stab wound is going to be the least of your very _long_ list of worries."

That actually surprises a soft bark of laughter from him, and the intensity in her eyes lightens a shade. His hand moves to cup the wound as it reminds him that perhaps laughter is not the best medicine just now. He starts again.

"... Chloe." She nods her approval. "I am... Older than, well. Nearly everything. I've existed since before time. I've done, been, and seen so very much it boggles the mortal mind. But, Chloe-"

She starts to interrupt when she hears the 'but', and he holds up his palm in a mute request for her to let him finish.

"But, Chloe, I have never in my very, very long life encountered anything like the way I feel for you. You... Terrify me."

Her face falls a bit at this admission, but he leans forward and reaches long fingers to touch feather-light under her chin. "You inspire me. You encourage me. You make me desire to be better than I ever have, and I have no idea how to even start that process, Chloe. But you. You make me want to try. I fell in love with you ages ago. Hundreds of years now, for me. I don't know when, but I can tell you when I figured it out. We were right here on this settee. You came to me upset. _To me_. The devil. You trusted me enough to come here in a state I've not seen you in before or since, and then you had the audacity to fall asleep on me. That's when I realized. And there was never a way back for me. It's always been you, Chloe. I love you, too."

Those last words seem to surprise him nearly as much as they surprised her, and they both just stop and stare at one another as time seems to stop. Their voices have remained quiet, lost in their own little pocket of reality. Eyes locked, they lean in and their lips meet. The moment stretches without either one making a further move, and suddenly Lucifer's eyes open and focus on Amenadiel, suspicious.

Sure enough, his angelic brother is grinning ear to ear, Maze beside him with a sly smile. He's somehow managed to exclude Chloe from his time freeze in order to give them a modicum of privacy. Never one to waste an opportunity, Lucifer leans closer to deepen the kiss, and scoops Chloe into his lap. She gasps and breaks the kiss, whirling around to look at everyone else and notices the stillness. Her eyes flit to Lucifer, pupils wide, and he nods to his brother, who is starting to perspire. A tentative smile breaks across her face and she buries her fingers in Lucifer's hair and brings him in for another real kiss before reluctantly moving back to her original seat. Amenadiel releases his hold on time, and the world goes on none the wiser except for the four in on the little joke.

She quirks an eyebrow at her freshly rumpled Lucifer and he huffs a soft chuckle. "Of course he can hear us, he's an angel. On my part, at least, it was nothing he didn't already know."

Chloe glances at the angel from the side of her eye. "Yeah, pretty sure there were no surprises from me, either."

Their return to reality marks the end of the truly serious conversations until later that evening. Dan leaves for his mid-shift not long afterward, promising to return for Trixie around 7. Linda has patients that need her (Maybe not as much as her devilish one, but close enough), and Charlie needs a child-safe environment, at least according to his tired but still-grinning father. Ella stays nearby, still sneaking in questions here and there- 

"Why not?" She argues when shushed, "Everyone here knows what's what!"

She leaves mid-afternoon to pick up her brother with a flurry of enthusiastic hugs and a promise to return later, leaving just Lucifer, Chloe, and the Spawn. Lucifer's energy is quickly waning, and Chloe hates to admit it but hers is as well. They settle for letting Trixie choose a movie from a streaming service. After a little dealing, Lucifer manages to convince her NOT to choose something Disney, and they all settle in place and relax. Trixie is sprawled in a nest of blankets, engrossed in the movie from the beginning, and it's not long before Lucifer is lightly snoring next to Chloe on the settee. She scoots in closer against his injured side, and rests her head on his chest, listening to the soft sussuration of air as he breathes, allowing herself to slip into a doze as well. When the movie is over, Trixie sleepily turns to give feedback, and sees the two adults snuggled together, deeply asleep. It's been a long few days for her as well. She picks up her nest, spreads one blanket across her mother and Lucifer, then climbs up on the couch and nestles into Lucifer's other side before wrapping up in her own blanket. The three of them peacefully snooze the rest of the afternoon away, and if Dan walks in a couple hours early because he was worried that he hadn't received a response to any of his texts and finds them all asleep on the couch, with Lucifer's gleaming wings mantled over them, well. He handles it quite well, by taking a bottle of Lucifer's bourbon and retreating to the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my friends. I think this is it! If you feel like you absolutely must have that final "be all, end all, clear all conversation, please let me know, but... I think- I think this story is done. (Dearest gods, I hope it's done. I am not a writer, I need some PEACE so I can go back to reading, where I belong!) Thank you for reading along, and sticking with this train wreck of a first (and hopefully only) attempt all the way to the very end. Happy reading, my friends!


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And, apparently an epilogue has appeared. More to follow, but not sure when! Sorry, my friends.

Chloe wakes wrapped in warmth,Lucifer's deep breaths rumbling in his chest against her ear. She wriggles a bit closer, her arm tightening across his lower back and just... basks. She hears the lighter breathing of Trixie nearby, and cracks an eye open for a quick status check. White. A blanket of softly glowing white over her. She can feel the warmth of Lucifer's breath suffusing through her hair, and then spies Trixie's dark curls nestled against his chest from her position pillowed against his shoulder.

Trixie is ensconced within the glowing white blanket as well, which Chloe's brain has just realized is actually Lucifer's wings mantled securely around them all. She smiles, and sleepily wishes that her phone was handy to snap a photo. He would never actually allow her to show anyone photographic proof that the snarky archangel is capable of being snuggled... but it would be nice to have, nonetheless. 

She's in no hurry to move, and she is completely willing to sit and enjoy one of the few perfect moments she's been presented with- safely ensconced with her two loves. She lets her eyes drift to her left, where Lucifer's heavily stubbled cheek is nodding just in her field of vision. The early evening light filters in from the balcony, creating a sparkling halo of dust motes dancing over his profile, casting the planes of his face in deep shadow as contrast. Her hand is resting on his chest, and she lifts her thumb to lightly caress the limned line of his chin. His breath stutters briefly before resuming sleep's pattern, and she lets her hand slide down to gently prod the fabric resting over his bandage. No stiffness of blood on his shirt, but the area still feels warmer than the surrounding skin. 

_Not healed yet_. She feels a pang of guilt. She should have left him alone today; he could have been healed by now if not for her proximity, something she still doesn't quite understand. Her hand presses against the wound without her realization and he twitches away with a hiss. His breath stops, body unmoving, unsure of the current situation he's in.

"Hey," she mutters quietly. "It's just us, me and Trixie. You okay? I'm sorry, I was checking your wound- I didn't mean-"

"It's quite alright, Detective." His voice is scratchy and he's not entirely present yet. "You are quite welcome to touch." His dark eyes make an appearance under half-closed lids, along with a slight playful smile and she feels an answering smile tugging at the corners of her own lips. His eyes are drawn down to his left side, then up to his right. "What on- dearie me, can't have these feathery monstrosities popping out whenever they like..."

He rolls his shoulders gently and the wings flare back before folding up into nothing behind them, revealing his left arm tucked securely around Trixie's shoulders, and his right snaked around Chloe's lower back, hand resting comfortably on her hip. He arches an eyebrow at the slumbering child and transfers it to Chloe. "Well, there's no salvaging this suit now, it shall have to be burned." But his sleepy smile is kind, and his warm expression holds none of the dramatic disgust that he's displayed in the past.

She decides to show mercy on his _suit_ , and disentangles herself from his embrace, standing quietly, then helping him readjust Trixie so he can do the same. He bends down to the girl curled on the sofa, resting comfortably under her fluffy grey blanket- smoothing it over her shoulder, his hand softly brushing against her hair. Quietly clearing his throat as he straightens, he heads for the bar. 

"Something to drink, darling?" He approaches the shelf and removes two tumblers before choosing an amber bottle and holding it up as an offering. She's tempted to accept, but their friends - _family, really_ \- will be arriving soon, and she wants to keep a clear head for the round of question-and-answer they're all about to endure.

"I think I'll just have some water, for now." 

Lucifer replaces one of the tumblers and disappears down the hall to the state-of-the-art kitchen she is now familiar with, and reappears with a tall glass of ice water before striding back to the bar and helping himself to a measure of scotch. By unspoken agreement, they remove themselves to the balcony where they can converse without waking Trixie.

Lucifer steps forward to rest his forearms on the guardrail and Chloe suppresses a shudder at his all-too-familiar position as she steps up next to him, brushing his shoulder with her own. Sometime soon she'll be able to be near him without needing to touch him to convince herself he's actually _here_. Today is not that day. Tomorrow isn't looking good, either. _Maybe soon is a bit optimistic._ The corner of her mouth quirks at her own inner dialogue, and of course he notices.

"Hundie for your thoughts?" he asks quietly.

"You'd be overpaying."

"Not at all, my dear. Everything about you is... priceless, beyond measure." She smiles up into his eyes, nearly black in the pre-twilight. Her hand moves to rest at his elbow.

"I'm just- so glad you're _here_. When you left-" her voice wavers at his quick intake of breath before she steadies it and continues, "-I was... I don't know what I was, Lucifer. I was _here_ and everything felt wrong. Flat. _Empty._ I was a bit lost, I suppose. There were times when I was so mad at you I wanted to scream, and other times I missed you so much I couldn't breathe. When I couldn't breathe, I would, um... I would come here. To sort of be _with_ you. And it would help. But you knew that. Didn't you?" Her eyes gain a hard edge as she holds her gaze on his face, daring him to try to hedge his way around her question, and he gives in without a struggle.

"I... didn't know. Until just a few days ago, in fact." His left hand moves to cover her hand, still resting on his elbow, and gives it a gentle squeeze. "I arrived a bit early for my appointment with the good Doctor so that I could see what I could dig up on Miss Lopez's missing brother. You very nearly caught me out, if I hadn't gotten distracted when I was smoking, you likely would have walked in to find me at the piano. The ciggy burned down as I was holding it and I felt the burn- that told me you were coming, I barely had time to put the cloths back in place and hide the evidence I'd been here at all..."

At his admission, her chest tightens as her eyes start to burn. "Why did you hide? Why would you run from me?" She closes her eyes and a tear spills down her cheek, closely followed by a second. His hand moves up to her cheek, thumb carefully collecting the wetness before he pulls it away to inspect.

"This is why, Chloe." The diffuse evening light reflects off her tears as he studies his hand with a reverent expression. "I couldn't bear to hurt you after I'd hoped you'd begun to heal from my departure. I had no hopes, then, of ever being able to truly come back, to stay with you. And I _needed_ to keep you safe. _All of you_."

"I know," she whispers. "I do know, and I'm not angry anymore. You did what you did because it was the best decision available at the time, even though it hurt." _Oh, it did hurt. It still hurts, but it's bearable now, with him beside her._

"What changed?"

His eyes are still riveted on his thumb, though the tears have evaporated from his skin, and he tilts his head in her direction. "Hm?"

"What changed? Why do you, did you- Why do you have hope now, when you didn't before?"

"Well," he pauses, as though trying to order his thoughts. "Once the initial battles were over, the primary insurgents sought and... taken care of, enough time had passed, and order was restored to a point that I could start to consider delegating the day-to-day operations and perhaps manage from a... bit of a distance."

"Delegating?"

"Yes, I happened across a manager, of sorts. Lots of experience. Bit ruthless. Bit bored. Perfect fit, really, I just need to... keep a bit of an eye on him."

"Him." Something about Lucifer's unwillingness to meet her eyes sets her on edge. "Lucifer. Do I know this... manager?"

"You do." His voice is soft, begging her not to ask, but of course she does. Of course she does.

"Who is it?"

"Chloe."

" _Who is it, Lucifer."_

He sighs heavily, shoulders slumping further. "You clearly already know, Detective," and there it is, he's putting that space back between them with her title. "To be fair, he has loads of experience with pretty much everything Hell could possibly throw at him. Eons of dealing with every sin imaginable, managing slippery sods and backbiting agendas. It's like he was designed for the position. And he seems to be highly motivated to stay out of his Loop, so while I can't _trust him_ , I think I _can_ work with him. At least in this capacity. He can't escape Hell, I'll be checking in on him regularly, and if _I_ am not there, then no other demons can come up with the bright idea that Azazel managed by escaping with one of my bloody lost feathers." He straightens his shoulders and thunderclouds cross his expression at those last words.

Uneasy silence holds the balcony as he waits for her judgement. She forces herself to think rationally about the reasons he's placed before her. He holds himself utterly, unnaturally still until she presses against his shoulder and squeezes his arm gently. 

"Okay." She watches the remaining liquid in his glass ripple as his hand trembles on its way to his lips. "I think we should discuss the entire plan, and some precautions with Amenadiel and Maze later, but if you think this is a viable plan, and we can keep you _here_ , then okay."

The tension bleeds from his body, and his knees feel a bit watery. He retreats to the chaise on the balcony, and Chloe gravitates with him, sitting flush against his side. He leans forward, elbows braced on his thighs and his head bowed. He hadn't realized exactly how badly he needed her approval of this plan until he was waiting for her to grant it.

 _She is willing to keep me. To let me... try to stay._ He feels a soft hand against his cheek, her eyes- nearly purple in the darkening evening- lock on his as she moves into his space and presses her lips to his, fingers moving into the hair at the base of his neck and holding him close. They hold the kiss for a long moment, their soft breathing seeming loud over the muffled sounds of the city far below, until the balcony door slides open and they break apart. Trixie, eyes sleepy, hair disheveled and still wrapped in her blanket, enters the balcony- completely and innocently unaware of her abysmal timing.

"Mom, I'm hungry." 

The adults look at each other startled, only just realizing how late it's gotten. 

"You're in luck, child," Lucifer grins, "it's time to order dinner! What do you think we should have? Everyone will be here soon, and I'm sure they'll bring the appetite of a school of piranha going after a skinny-dipping missionary."

Trixie's eyes widen. "I don't know what that means... But can we get pizza???"

Lucifer's gaze slides to Chloe's for approval before granting permission. "Pizza it is. Now, toppings!" 

And the trio settles down to deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has questions they would like to see Lucifer (or Amenadiel) answer for Ella, Trixie, and Chloe, please let me know! I'm hoping to wrap this up in one more chapter.


	27. Chapter 27

The overloaded pizza delivery girl shares the lift up to the penthouse with Amenadiel, Linda, and Charlie. Amenadiel kindly relieves her of several of the pizza boxes, and the lift door opens to reveal Lucifer and Trixie heatedly debating the merits of plain cheese vs "more sophisticated" toppings as Chloe leans on the counter watching with a fondly exasperated look on her face.

"Ah splendid, sustenance- and company!- has arrived!" Lucifer crows, sweeping into host mode. "Brother, do make yourself useful and take the stack through to the kitchen, will you? Linda, darling, let me take that for you --Ah, nonono, not that!" he adroitly avoids the squirming child she tries to hand him and instead relieves her of the diaper bag and portable play pen. Amenadiel returns to the room and sets up Charlie's little safe haven as Linda joins Chloe and Trixie at the counter.

"And how was our patient today?" Linda asks quietly. She smiles warmly at Chloe, whose eyes have followed Lucifer's disappearance into the kitchen, Trixie trailing behind him.

"Very cooperative." A genuine smile - the first Linda has seen from her in far too long- spreads across her face, and stays there. "Almost suspiciously so, but we all mostly just rested. He was even able to remove the bandage about a half an hour ago."

"No more bleeding?"

"None. It's not healed yet, but it looks a week or more old at this point." Amenadiel comes to relieve Linda of the burbling baby, and settles him into his playpen with some toys to occupy him before returning to the counter with the ladies. "The bruising is still there, but nowhere near as dark."

Amenadiel nods sagely. "Wounds from hell-forged weapons do not heal easily. We are fortunate that this one is healing cleanly."

"Amenadiel- you said your wound was healed by one of Lucifer's feathers. Why didn't you use one of them for his wound?"

He looks here with a raised brow. "Because they cannot work for him. You recall that I described them as- a battery of sorts, a charge of grace for a wounded divine being?"

"Yes?"

"That grace is already part of him. Trying to use one of his feathers to heal him would be like... trying to charge a battery pack by plugging it into itself."

"Oh. That makes... a weird amount of sense."

" _Hel-lo!_ " comes Lucifer's voice from the kitchen. "I can hear you, you know? And I am not a bloody battery pack! Come and get dinner everyone, so we can get this infernal farce of a press conference over with!" He strides back into the sitting room with a heaping plate and stops dead, horrified fascination on his face as he takes in the brightly colored atrocity that has taken residence in the far corner of his penthouse.

"What. On. Earth," he deadpans, "Is. That. Doctor, what have you done to my home?"

Chloe successfully stifles her giggle, but Trixie and Linda don't even try.

At Lucifer's affronted look, Amenadiel responds. "It's a playpen, Luci. It gives Charlie a safe space to be, and protects the rest of your home from 'contamination'."

The mobile turns and Lucifer shudders at the slightly off-key melody that tinkles from it. "You could at least present your offspring with suitable music rather than that... drivel."

"He likes it, Lucifer." Linda chuckles, "But you're more than welcome to introduce him to more suitable music if you like, we can always use a babysitter."

Lucifer's aggrieved gaze is transferred to Linda and paired with Amenadiel's panicked one as Lucifer mutters, "How dare you!" under his breath before retreating to the bartop with his plate as the others go to fill theirs.

Chloe stands close by Lucifer once she fills her plate, and waits for the others to join them. She watches Lucifer suspiciously glaring at the offending playpen as she prepares to start the interview.

"I had a long conversation with Amenadiel, Linda, and Maze a couple weeks after you left. They... helped fill in some of the gaps of what I missed. You know, before."

"Oh, did they now?" His eyes soften as they meet hers. "Mind giving me an overview? Just so I know where we stand?"

"Well, we talked about Malcolm. And what happened in the hangar."

"Mm. Good old Malkie, Detective Stache." Lucifer's eyes go distant as he chews his slice of Mediterranean pizza slowly. Not offering any information, but not closing the door if she has more questions.

"He gave me the inside scoop on Charlotte Richards, and your Mom, uh, the Goddess. And... your brother."

A nod to that disclosure, still chewing, not meeting her gaze.

"My poisoning, and you getting the cure. Candy. My, um... my miracle-ness."

This does elicit a reaction, and his eyes snap to hers. "Detective-"

"I know, we don't know what it means. Honestly Lucifer, I'm not sure what to make of it, but it doesn't bother me as much as it did when I first found out. I can... understand why you ran. I don't _like_ it. But I can understand." She reaches out and catches his hand, giving it a soft squeeze. "We're still alright here, okay?"

"O....kay?" his voice is hesitant, and he nods slowly.

"Text from Maze: she and Ella got slightly held up but she says we don't have to wait for them." Linda approaches the bar and thumbs her phone screen off, and tucks into her Veggie Supreme.

"Anything else, Detective?" Lucifer asks quietly.

"We also talked- just a little- about Pi- uh, Cain." Chloe shoots a sideways look at Trixie, and Lucifer, for once, has no trouble reading it. 

_Right. Follow up on that discussion later, then._

Amenadiel rejoins them at the bar then, and Chloe picks up the thread of her previous conversation with him.

"Okay, so you couldn't use Lucifer's feather for the healing... what about yours? You've got your wings back..."

Amenadiel looks slightly crestfallen, but Lucifer chuckles quietly. "Amenadiel's feathers can't heal. That's an archangel trait, and there's only four of us. Angels like Amenadiel don't have quite the levels of concentrated grace that archangels do, even one that hasn't fallen."

Chloe nods, processing this snippet of information as her brain gropes for her next question. Trixie enters the room with a heaping plate of sample-sized slices - apparently Lucifer had been successful in coercing her into branching out of her "Cheese is the only acceptable topping for pizza" stance. She bounces to the counter and clambers onto one of the stools. 

"Is it time for questions now?"

Chloe smiles at her inexhaustible Monkey, and notices Lucifer's apprehensive expression. "Yes, Trix, but you need to make sure you eat quickly, because it's nearly bedtime. Your dad should be here to get you soon. In fact- I wonder where he is?" She checks her phone and notices several missed calls and texts that hadn't woken her earlier.

Linda chuckles quietly as her phone lights up and she reads the notification. "He's okay, Chloe. Maze says he's downstairs with her and Ella. They'll bring him up in a bit."

Chloe is a little nervous at leaving Dan with Maze, but at least Ella is there as a buffer.

"Lucifer, do you have a special face like Maze does?" Trixie pipes up around an adventurous mouthful of pineapple and jalapeno pizza.

"I... do," Lucifer answers carefully. "I won't show it to you, though. Only those who deserve punishment are deliberately shown that face, Urchin, and you are most certainly not among that number."

"Aww. Maze's face is so cool- we got SO MUCH CANDY when she took me trick-or-treating with it..." Trixie looks a bit crestfallen, but accepts the answer gracefully. Chloe's eyes widen at the realization that her daughter has been a celestial insider much longer than she herself has... and also handled it far better, simply accepting her friends as they are.

"I can sincerely promise that my face would not result in getting you any candy, Beatrice." Lucifer replies softly.

"I heard you say you're an archangel. What about wings? Do you have those, too?"

A mischievous smile spreads across his face, eyes twinkling. "In fact, I do. They're a right feathery pain, but I suppose you would think they're 'pretty'. You just missed them a bit earlier- but they're much too big to bring out over dinner. Perhaps later, if your mother agrees."

"Can you FLY?!" She bounces in her seat as the thought occurs to her.

"Of course I can _fly_ -" Lucifer begins, and is promptly interrupted.

"Oh man, Lucifer, will you take me flying?!" Lucifer, panicked, looks at Chloe for help.

"Whoa, Monkey, slow down. Whatever Lucifer's answer to that question, there's going to have to be some discussion before anything like that, okay?" Chloe gives her daughter a pat on the back. She knows Lucifer can fly, of course, though she's never seen it. That must be how he got her onto that rooftop after Pierce shot her. And she had felt the wind from his wings as he left her alone on the balcony... _okay, time for a new subject._

*************

Ella caught up to Maze at the entrance to Lux, and they walk into the nightclub together. The hour is early enough that the crowd is still light, the floor open without the crush of humanity that will later come to fill it with heat and hopes and hedonism. They start to navigate to the elevator, when Maze pauses, eyes caught by a hunched figure in one of the more private booths. She puts out a hand to touch Ella's shoulder.

"Ellen- is that Dan?"

Ella huffs, "You _know_ my name is ELLA, right?"

Maze lifts a lazy eyebrow at her, and sends Linda a text. "Sure. I'm pretty sure that's Dan over there." She nods in the direction of the sloucher, and the women head in that direction.

Dan is wrapped around a cut crystal decanter that definitely came from Lucifer's shelves in the penthouse, and from the looks of him, he's made some pretty good inroads on it. Sharing a look, the two women each take a seat on either side of him before he even realizes they're there.

"Heeeyyy, Maze! Ella!" Dan's voice is a little too loud, deliberately slow as if he's trying to convince himself he's not drunk. "You guys back to see Lucifer again, huh? You, uh... might want to call and let him know you're on your way. I mean, you never know wings - I, uh, _when_ you might walk in on something you never thought you'd see."

The two women share another look, Maze smirking, Ella with wide eyes. 

"Catch an eyeful of something, Daaaaaan?" Mazikeen drawls. 

His eyes are slightly unfocused as he looks at Maze. "I guess I did. And then I grabbed my friend here," he pats the bottle affectionately, "And it's been thinking me. Helping me. Think."

"Whatcha thinkin' about, Dan?" Ella asks carefully.

His eyes sharpen a bit as he keeps his gaze on Maze. "You're a demon. Like a really real one."

Maze holds his gaze and nods. "So?"

"So. You hunt bad guys. And let Trixie do your hair. And you helped me with... with that one thing. Well, more than one thing."

Maze doesn't so much relax as- soften imperceptibly. "You're my friend, Dan. I would never hurt you. Unless you really pissed me off. But you're also important to Trix, so... maybe not even then. At least, not too bad. What else is on your mind?"

"Satan steals my pudding." Dan's laugh is choked, but his voice is steadier now. "He puts fliers up advertising a Chewbacca contest around the precinct with my phone number on them, and hires lawyers for crooked cops that help him. He's got... really big, white wings..."

Ella's eyebrows are reaching her hairline, and Dan- suddenly almost sober- remembers her presence. "Uh...Did you know, Ella?"

"Uhh yeah. Yeah, I did. I only just found out though. You're... doing pretty well with it, I guess?"

He chuckles and pats the bottle affectionately. "I've had some good help here. I went up there earlier and found the three of them asleep on the couch... and wings."

"Wings?" Ella prompts.

"Yeah. All on the couch, three peas in a feathery pod... He actually makes way more sense now, you know?"

"Because you're drunk?" Maze snorts.

"No. Well, _yeah_ , I am drunk. But I mean about Lucifer. _Why_ he's so clueless about... normal stuff. All the questions he's asked me, I thought he was just being a dick, but he... he really didn't know."

"Don't get all squishy, he can _still_ be a dick."

Now it's Dan's turn to snort. "I don't doubt it. But- crazy as it sounds- I don't think he's a bad guy." He looks apologetically at Ella, at her necklace, "I don't think he's... evil."

Ella's eyes are warm, and she rests a small hand on his forearm. "You're right about that, buddy. I've always said the Devil gets a bad rap, and it's nice to be proven right now and then."

Dan clumsily pats her hand, and lowers his head to the table. Ella looks questioningly at Maze's smirking expression, and Dan starts to snore.

"Aaaand we lost him. Think we can get him upstairs?"

"Psh. Of course. I've managed to transport him from here to Chloe's old apartment without any help at all. Of course, he was naked at the time..."

"Whaaaaat? Okay, I need this story. Like, now..."

**************************

The elevator door opens to the penthouse and Maze strides in with Dan slung over her petite shoulder like a sack of snoring potatoes. She winks at Trixie, who giggles. Chloe abandons her plate to rush over, "Oh my - Maze! What happened??" 

Ella follows from the elevator, crystal decanter in hand. "Dan had a little bit a feathery revelation a bit earlier today, and sought some liquid courage to help him... process. He just needs to sleep it off, I think."

Chloe looks at Ella for a long moment, brows furrowed, before realization hits. "The missed calls and texts! He must have been worried and came back early, and found-" she turns to look at Lucifer, recalling how they'd woken from their nap wrapped in snowy white wings.

"Oh, poor Daniel," his grin is wicked. "Got an eyeful of divinity, did he? Is he lucid, Maze? How worried should the Detective be for the father of her Offspring?"

"Meh. He'll be fine. Where do you want him?"

"The blue room will suffice, Mazikeen. See that he has a bottle of water and some pain relievers on hand for wakeup, could you?" The demon snickers mercilessly as she carts Dan down the hallway to one of the guestrooms adjoining the guest bath.

Chloe considers following, but if Dan's really just sleeping off a bender, Maze can handle him. She crosses back to the group gathered around the bar. Ella pops off to the kitchen to claim some pizza. Trixie's plate is empty, and she's discussing the merits of "Other" toppings with a smug Lucifer.

"I did mention, Urchin, that trying new things is an adventure... but trying some of _Maze's_ favorite things is a bit more so. Pineapple jalapeno is not among the more palatable combinations you could have started with."

"I liked it!" Trixie defends staunchly, "... once it stopped burning."

Lucifer's laugh is low, and his eyes are warm. Chloe sidles up next to him, wrapping her arm around his lower back. "I'm just impressed you actually talked her into trying something new."

"Well, it wasn't entirely without price, you know, Detective." He tilts his head toward her and gives her a playful smile. "But what's one more lost round of Monopoly to an immortal being?"

How many times has he casually thrown out statements like that? _Always the truth, Detective. Point of pride, for me._ Chloe shakes her head and returns his smile, giving his waist a squeeze.

"What can I say? She drives a hard deal."

"That she does, darling." Lucifer slides a wink to Trixie, who snickers impishly.

"Trix - did you do any of your schoolwork today?"

"Well-" Chloe arches a brow at her errant offspring, and the excuse dies on her lips. "Nooo. I do have a math sheet that I was supposed to turn in today." The brow arches higher, and Trixie admits her defeat. She slides off the stool and returns her plate to the kitchen with all the alacrity of a speeding glacier, where she proceeds to grumble audibly as she pulls out her assignment.

"I suppose we know where she gets her bargaining skills from, hm?" Lucifer whispers against her ear.

Chloe transfers the arched brow to him, and his breath of laughter is silk against her cheek. "Just making an observation, Detective."

Linda and Amenadiel had settled side-by-side on the short arm of the sofa, and Ella chose that moment to return to the sitting room with her heavily-laden plate of chicken/bacon/ranch pizza, topped off with a heap of breadsticks. Lucifer offers Chloe his elbow in an overly gallant gesture, and she grins at him. Once she settles her hand within the crook of it, he dramatically escorts her to the settee. 

Ella nests down in one of the chairs opposite the couch, eyes wide in readiness. 

"Before we start, does anyone need a drink? No? Just me, then." Lucifer deposits Chloe on the sofa, and retreats to the bar just long enough to gather up a tumbler and a decanter. He sits, and looks around at the expectant faces. "All right, no more stalling. Let's have it, then, what's my first task?"

"Can you... what can you tell us about Hell?" Chloe's voice is hesitant, sure that he won't want to discuss it. But this subject is what has taken up most of her curiosity since he revealed how very long he had been away from them. "About the past 300 years?"

"Three hundred years?" Ella echoes.

Lucifer sighs, as if he'd been expecting, and dreading this question. _Of course he was_. But he straightens his cuffs as he pulls in a breath to begin his answer.

"Time, Miss Lopez, runs a bit differently in Hell." He begins with all the confidence of a college professor starting a lecture. "It is... warped, corrupted - not unlike the souls that spend eternity there. It moves much faster than the earthly plane, faster even than the heavenly plane. What seems a brief moment here can feel like an eternity there. For you, I have been absent for- I believe- about three months, yes?"

"Thirteen weeks, 5 days." Chloe supplies immediately, cheeks heating as Ella nods in confirmation. "I could give you hours, but... I don't know exactly when you arrived." His dark eyes soften as they catch hers, and he leans in to press his shoulder against hers.

"Well." He clears his throat before he continues, "For me in Hell, it's been about 300 years. You can't really keep track, but that's... as accurate as one can be."

Ella's eyes are enormous, and Lucifer briefly spares a concern that they may actually wind up rolling across his slightly dusty marble floor before he brings himself back to the question at hand to spare himself the visual.

"Of course, when I first arrived there was plenty to do, and it all needed done immediately - honestly, you can't count on demons to keep anything in order. Mazikeen excluded, naturally, but then, Maze isn't your everyday, run of the mill demon."

"Damn straight I'm not." The demon stalks in at that moment, Drunken Daniel taken care of and laden with her own plate of pineapple jalapeno pizza. She settles into the chair next to Ella's. "What'd I miss?"

Amenadiel smiles at her, "Just a brief overview of the time differences in Hell. We've only just started." Maze nods, and proceeds to tear into her food.

"So it was... a bit of a mess." Lucifer picks up the thread of his narrative. "The loyalists, as they are, were eventually able to hunt down the perpetrators of our little topside incursion-" Here Ella nods, to show that she has been appraised of the nightmare of Charlie's kidnapping and the Mayan. She had been called in to help sort through the bodies at the site, and though it was horrifying, finally having an explanation for that grisly scene was helpful. "- and appropriate punishments were decided. That took a while, probably 50 years?" He muses to himself for a moment, trying to calculate.

"Yes, I'd guess 50 years, maybe a bit more. But it had to be the first course of business. Give a demon an inch and they'll take far more than a mile, so we could not stop until we'd tracked and apprehended every last participant." His hands had curled into fists between his knees, and Chloe rested her hand on them. He relaxed them enough to take her hand between his, and she gave them a gentle squeeze, feeling the half-moon imprints his fingernails had left on his palms. "After that, it was playing a bit of catch-up. Determining appropriate loops or other punishment for those who feel no guilt or remorse, but do not belong in Heaven."

He stops, suddenly. "I don't want to bore you... or horrify you unduly, but a large part of what I do there is administrative, even though it is, admittedly, the Devil's work. I'll spare you details for now, shall I? You can always ask for more later, if... you feel you need them." His face was hopeful.

"Whatever you're comfortable sharing, Lucifer," Linda leans forward, breaking her silence. "We're your friends, we don't want to upset you, we just want to understand a little of what you've been through since you had to leave us."

His eyes shine in relief, and he takes a small wavering breath before he continues. "I managed another 75 years, before I really started feeling the mental strain of being back in Hell. I don't- I didn't." Another, deeper breath. "I have never liked the position, the _job_ my father forced on me. But, after being here for a few years, befriending all of you... being back there again, it was... Well. I think Hell sums it up quite nicely, so I won't try any further than that."

"I tried my best to hold onto what little sanity the good Doctor had managed to instill in me." He moves his gaze to Linda now, and gives her a small smile. "I... didn't want to go back to the Devil I had been before, I- I rather liked who I had become. Who I was becoming, when I was here. I tried to hold onto that person, that frame of mind, and still do what needed to be done there, but I could feel myself slipping. I fought it as long as I could, before-" he stops to clear his throat, takes a long pull from his tumbler before continuing. "I had to admit I needed some help. I asked Amenadiel if he would be willing to cut a deal with me to help steward Hell so I might be able to have an occasional session with Doctor Linda to try to help hold my mental ground."

Chloe had been fighting the tears with every fiber of her being not currently absorbed in listening to her partner's ordeal, but when she turns her head to Amenadiel with eyes narrowed, the tears escape anyway. The look on his face absolves him a little- clearly he hadn't known exactly how badly his brother had been struggling. And he _had_ been willing to help when Lucifer asked...

"Luci-" Amenadiel begins. "I am sorry that I hadn't checked in with you sooner, Brother. I had forgotten how vast the time difference is between the earthly and infernal planes. I am glad you contacted me, but... I wish you hadn't struggled alone for so long."

"It's in the job description, Brother." Lucifer sighs deeply. "No one wants to be there, and you had to be here to show our _Father_ how one should treat a son." He throws a scathing look at the ceiling before settling down. "So, thanks to Amenadiel and Doctor Linda, I was able to get a few brief reprieves- a breath of untainted air every few decades or so, and Linda did her usual phenomenal job at trying to keep the Devil from chasing his own tail."

Ella swallows the breadstick she'd been chewing. "Do you have a tail?"

Lucifer snorts derisively. "No, I don't have a bloody tail. _Or horns_. _Or **hooves.**_ Bloody Renaissance artists, can't get anything right."

Maze gives Ella a side-eye. "Whatever you do, _don't_ bring up the goat thing." Amenadiel shifts uncomfortably in his seat, and Maze sends a small smirk in his direction.

Ella empties her plate as her questions fly.

"Where do your wings go when we can't see them?"

"We can fold them into another plane of existence. They don't always exist corporeally here- that's why I can unfurl them without destroying my shirt every time."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Many. You're actually acquainted with one-"

"Yeah, okay, Amenadiel's an angel, I get it-"

"No, Miss Lopez, you're quite familiar with one of my sisters, in fact." Here Lucifer smirks a bit, and Amenadiel glances between the two of them, hopelessly confused.

"Luci, what-"

"My favorite sister stopped by awhile back, before-" he glances at Chloe, "Well, before everything got even more complicated. I was rather put out at the time, because I hadn't seen her since my Fall... but, well. It's impossible to stay angry with Azrael. She is much like you, Miss Lopez."

"Azrael?" Ella muses. "I don't know anyone by that name?"

"No, I suppose not." He smiles kindly at her. "She met you when you quite young, so she introduced herself as the name I had always called her by, Rae-Rae."

"Rae-Rae?!" Ella jumps to her feet, narrowly avoiding sending her empty plate skittering across the floor. "You're- she's - wait. Your sister is a _ghost?_ How on earth does _that work_?"

Amenadiel sits stock-still, in a bit of shock that his little sister befriended a human.

"No, my dear Miss Lopez- Azrael is not a ghost, but I can see why that would occur to her as a cover story, seeing as she is the Angel of Death."

Ella is stunned for a moment, before she suddenly grins, eyes sparkling. "Rae-Rae is the one that told me to move out here. Did she tell you that?"

"Mm-hm." Lucifer nods, eyes soft.

"Did she- did she know you were out here then?"

"She did. She thought we might be... good friends."

"Weeeellllll. I suppose I'll forgive her for letting me believe she was a ghost for 20-some years, since she was right." She crosses the empty space to the settee and pulls a very surprised Lucifer from his seat and wraps him in hug. This time he doesn't even try to resist, simply wraps his arms around her tiny frame and murmurs something quietly into her hair. When Ella lifts her head from his chest, her eyes are sparkling with unshed tears. 

"I'm actually really glad she's not a ghost. I always felt so badly that she was stuck here, all alone, unable to cross over. It's much nicer to just think of her as an overworked immortal that likes to spend her time off visiting with me!"

"Don't be too harsh with her, Miss Lopez. She cares about you a great deal. As do I." They smile at each other and Ella gives him another squeeze before trundling off to the kitchen with her empty plate. Lucifer sinks back down on the couch and leans his shoulder against Chloe.

Maze leans forward now, eyes keen on Lucifer. "What's going on in Hell, Lucifer? You're going to try to stay now, but who have you left down there?"

The words emerge as a hiss. She's been biding her time, but her limited patience has run out. Lucifer pulls in a deep breath, and Chloe stiffens beside him. This conversation will likely not go well.

"Yes, you said you had started working on a plan- but we didn't have time for details. What have you built so far, Lucifer?" Linda interjects.

"You're... not going to like the answer. But, to be fair, _I_ don't particularly like the answer, though it seems to be the best one at my disposal at this moment in time."

Ella rejoins them, having caught the last interaction as she re-entered the room. Amenadiel looks concerned, Maze just looks annoyed. Lucifer sets out to outline his plan by first providing facts, as though he were the Detective laying out the boring facts of a case.

"Here's what I know: Azazel was able to reach the mortal plane because he managed to find and use one of my feathers I lost in a skirmish with his band of renegades. If I am not there, my lost feathers cannot be used as skeleton keys to the earthly plane. I needed someone that can handle an unruly legion, loads of paperwork, plus day-to-day Hell management. I was not overly pleased with my available choices, but as none of my siblings are inclined to sit on the throne for a spell, here is what I came up with..." He loosely outlines his deal with Cain, including the exact phrasing of the oaths both Cain and the Lordlings undertook. "So... he gets to stay out of his Hell loop. I already know he's experienced with management, tedium, and, well, punishment. I plan to keep quite a close eye on him, since I _certainly_ don't trust him, but... I think this can work." These last words fall into a rippling well of silence.

Chloe looks around at her friends. Ella is clearly still stuck on the whole "Pierce-is-Cain-the-First-Murderer" revelation. _I feel ya there, sister. I almost married that._ Amenadiel's concerned expression has merged with one of deep thought. Linda looks terrified but supportive. Maze... Maze is quiet. Chloe can feel a tightness expanding in her chest. Maze's quiet is the silence of a predator in shadow that hasn't decided yet if it is hungry for the morsel in front of it.

Amenadiel speaks first. "Luci, you were right. There are no true _good_ choices here. I think... this idea has some merit, and at the very least is worth trying. But-" Lucifer stiffens imperceptibly against Chloe, and her hand squeezes his knee in support, "when you go to check on him, I would like to accompany you. I do not trust Cain, and I would want someone there to watch your back as you are watching him."

The sheer disbelief on Lucifer's face speaks volumes to his thoughts on his brother's view of him, and a small piece crumbles off the edge of Chloe's heart at the _lack_ of love and support Lucifer has been shown from his family throughout his long, long life. 

_I can never make up for that, even if I lived for a thousand years. But I can damn well make sure he knows he is loved now. We all can._

Lucifer lifts his eyes to meet Mazikeen's calculating stare. The silence stretches until Trixie wanders in, homework finally complete.

With Dan passed out in one of the guest rooms, and Chloe unwilling to leave Lucifer for the time being, quick sleeping arrangements are arranged for the Offspring, and Chloe leads her off to ready herself for bed, after another slightly sleepy round of hugs for everyone present. Maze absently accepts hers, her eyes never leaving Lucifer. 

Once the Detective and her Offspring have trundled off to the second guest room, Charlie begins to fuss in his playpen and Linda and Amenadiel start making preparations to depart. Lucifer gets yet another hug- this one from his therapist- and promises to make an appointment soon. Amenadiel does not embrace Lucifer, but does rest a large hand on his shoulder with a promise to see him soon.

Ella manages to shake herself from her revelatory trance at the bustle of activity and also prepares to head home for the night. She reminds them all that they are due for kicks in the shins at a to-be-determined point in time and takes her leave, sharing the lift down with Linda, Amenadiel, and a very sleepy angel baby.

Maze remains motionless, dark eyes fixed on Lucifer's face. For a human, it would be unnerving-probably even terrifying, but Lucifer is no human. He waits with predatory ease, waits for his demon to come to her conclusions. 

"Okay," the answer comes abruptly, with a tense shrug.

"Okay?" Lucifer parrots, jaw dropping with a scoff.

"Yeah. Okay." Maze begins flipping her curved knife in her hand, probably the one that Cain had taken from her, if Lucifer knows her at all. "It's not a perfect plan, but it's a solid one. I can't find any loopholes in those oaths, and since you swore with blood I _know_ at least the Lordlings won't be able to betray you. And since you had them swear to obey _him_ only as long as _he_ was obeying you... well, that hems him in quite nicely."

"I-"

"But Amenadiel's right. You do not go down there alone. And if he won't go, you _will_ take me. _My Lord._ "

"Mazikeen, I granted you your freedom, I am no longer your Lord, you-"

"I know exactly what you granted me, Lucifer. You left me here to look after _our_ family, while you went away to war without me."

"Maz-"

"I _know why._ " She interrupts once more. "I don't have to like it, any more than you did, but I will _not_ allow you to get yourself killed doing something stupid like trusting _Cain_. It's bad enough I couldn't protect you from him the first time."

"Maze... I-"

"If you thank me, _I will stab you._ And it won't be with some shoddy pigsticker like Azazel used."

He snorts softly. "I would never think so little of you, to have such a substandard blade at your disposal."

She gives him a tight smile. "Damn straight." She stands to leave, and they each incline their head toward the other. Chloe returns in time to catch this final exchange, and Maze exits to the elevator, still flipping her knife between her fingers.

*******************************

Their eyes meet across the empty room, and Chloe casts a glance over her shoulder toward the guest rooms before traversing the space between them and taking his hand in hers. She pulls him out the sliding glass doors and onto the balcony, then sinks onto the chaise they occupied earlier. She doesn't release his hand, and he settles into the lounge next to her. Her eyes are locked on her fingers tracing the spaces between his, and he watches her face as she orders her thoughts.

"Lucifer, we... We never really had a chance to talk about Pierce- about Cain. Amenadiel told me some of it, and Linda, but... I'd really like to talk with you about it." She lifts her eyes to his, light meeting dark in an attempt at driving away any lingering shadows of doubt.

"Of course," his voice is quiet, resigned, barely more than a rumble in his chest but they are seated closely enough that she has no problems hearing him, even over the drifting cacophony of the city far below. "Ask, and I shall answer."

"All of my questions basically boil down to one... Why?" Her voice breaks on the last word, and his expression softens at the emotion in it.

His heart sinks, and he pauses a moment, trying to formulate an answer. "Why did I kill him. I... Don't have a clear answer for that. He tried to kill you, Detective, he wasn't going to stop. I'm not certain I could have stopped him without-" but Chloe is clutching at his hand, placing a hand on his cheek, interrupting the flood of words pouring from his mouth.

"Lucif- no! That's not what I'm asking, not at all!" Her expression is horrified, but crystal clear.

"Then, what-" he stops, puzzled. "I don't understand what you're asking me, Detective."

"I only meant... Why did we let him come between us. This-" she squeezes his hand, "what we have? After Candy, we had been working on us, and then when I thought maybe, it seemed like you were pushing me away again."

"That's because... I was." His eyes fixate on her hand wrapped around his own. "You remember the Bolivian cartel case, and the bomb. That young woman, Bree, actually died in the explosion. I had, er, used her empty shell to return Abel to life, in the hopes of helping Cain remove his curse so he could finally die as he said he wished to." He pauses for a moment to check her face, which she carefully keeps neutral, nodding for him to continue. "When you nearly got blown up, and Cain was willing to let that happen to save his chance at getting his Mark removed... That's when I realized I couldn't keep working with Cain just to spite my Father's will. It... Wasn't worth your safety, your life. I broke my deal with Cain to help him remove his Mark, and- that's when he upped his game. I thought it best to try to remove you from my Father's focus a bit by trying to distance myself from you, and by the time I realized that wasn't going to work, he had already made his first move."

"The Axara concert?"

"Right in one." She leans in and rests her forehead against his shoulder. He brushes his stubbled cheek against her temple. "And the rest, as they say, is history. He had eons of experience in manipulating people to get the results he wanted, and all I had was a truth no one would believe and a sorely lacking knowledge of emotions that are... Still so very new and raw to me, Chloe. They... _hurt,_ and not in a fun way. I..." He pulls in a steadying breath as his voice starts to waver. "I am not used to quite this level of intensity in honesty, my dear, but I am in entirely alien territory, and I have absolutely no bloody idea what to do."

She remains quiet, but brings a hand up to loosely massage the back of his neck, feeling how tense his muscles are from the subject matter. He continues after a moment of silence.

"I worked hard to convince myself that if you could change me, the Devil, make me want to be better, why couldn't that happen for Cain as well? You were choosing him, had chosen him. You seemed happy. I tried to pretend that if you were happy with him, then I could be happy as your partner, as we had always been."

She smiled a sad smile against his collar. "But you're terrible at pretending."

She feels his cheek twitch against her temple and his voice rumbles in her ear, "When my heart isn't in it." 

"Hmmm. I wish.. I wish we had talked about this sooner." 

"Well, Detective, there really wasn't a way we could have, then. You still wouldn't believe me, and I didn't have my Devil face then to prove myself. I suppose, given the way things worked out, it was rather a good thing I wasn't able to show you that day in Ella's lab..." His voice is smaller now. "We couldn't have had an open discussion like this with you still denying the truth of me."

A tear manages to escape, but she clamps down on the rest before they can fall. 

_"Detective... **Chloe.** I am the Devil."_

_"No, you're not. Not to me."_

_"No more Devil talk, okay?"_

He was right. He had tried so hard to tell her, so many times, and she had denied him, over and over again. "Amenadiel says you didn't show me your wings because you felt like they weren't yours."

"Mm, yes, that's true. I cut the bloody things off so many times I lost count, until Doctor Linda convinced me to leave them be. I'm... I'm glad she did, they finally earned their keep at that loft."

"When Cain shot me?"

"Yes, well, shortly after."

"Will you tell me?"

"I thought he had killed you. I pulled my wings out and used them as a shield against the bullets when his men opened fire. Once I had an opening, I flew us up to the rooftop. Chloe... When I realized you were wearing a vest, it felt like my heart started beating again. I knew I couldn't let him get away, he wasn't going to leave us alone, so I left you there, safe, and went back."

Chloe remembers all too well what happened next. Her panicked flight to get back to Lucifer, trying to accept her new reality, then coming face to face with the Devil himself. 

_"Detective?"_

The concern in his rich voice rippling from that burned visage, that she now knew was a self-actualized remnant of the injuries sustained when he was cast from heaven; not a mark of the evil within, as she had been terrified of at the time. She remembers the snapping of bones and an anguished cry as he disappeared, then looking around at the hundreds of bullet casings and bloody feathers strewn about the floor like confetti after a particularly macabre parade.

"Lucifer. What happened to your wings... After? How many bullets did you take?" She faintly remembers the sound of unceasing gunfire, Lucifer's voice crying out harshly in pain. He is silent, and still as a grave. She turns her head against his chest to see his face. His eyes are far away, and haunted. She moves her hand to cup his cheek, and gently turns him to face her. "Lucifer?"

"I... Didn't count them. Once I got back here, I removed the bullets I could reach. The rest... Well, they worked their way out eventually. The bones knitted up after a week or two, but it was bloody awkward navigating around here until I could fold them away properly."

His tone is light, deprecating, but Chloe is fluent enough in Lucifer to know that the more he downplays something, the worse it really is. Her mind's eye shows him sitting here on the balcony, or in his bathroom with a first aid kit, twisting and contorting with broken, bleeding wings trying to fish out the dozens ( _at least,_ her traitorous mind whispers) of bullets buried in those glorious glowing appendages. Choking off cries of pain as the tweezers tease against bone fragments. Then the scene fast forwards, Lucifer kneeling with wings half furled and still bloody, trying to clean up the mess while woozy from pain, blood loss, and probably half-drunk or high trying to battle the pain, because her neat-freak partner is incapable of tolerating a mess. She stifles a sob. It's her fault he had to endure that alone, she'll be damned if she makes him comfort her reaction to thinking of that consequence.

"It probably would have made more sense to cut them off, but by then I was fairly certain that they wouldn't grow back again."

She shivers as she recalls the first time she had seen the scars on his back, long and thick as her forearm, pebbled and ridged against the otherwise smoothly muscled expanse of his shoulders.

"I'm sorry you had to endure that alone, Lucifer. I'm so sorry I wasn't there-"

He rests the pad of a finger against her lips, effectively silencing her. "You've already apologized for that particular transgression, not once, but twice now. I really do not need a third. As I recall, we forgave each other for our transgressions, and agreed to move forward, yes?"

She hums her agreement as his tired eyes meet hers, the circles under them magnified in the dark of the night. He traces his fingertip along the bow of her lip, then drops his hand to his lap. She studies him a moment before making her decision. "I'm pretty tired, Lucifer. What do you say we call it a night? We've... I think we've covered all my burning questions to start with. Anything else we'll address as they come to mind."

His shoulders slump with what she reads as a mixture of relief and exhaustion. "That sounds truly divine, Detective. I do hope I can wait awhile before my next hell-forged blade stabbing. They seem to be quite draining."

"How about no stabbing period for a bit? And maybe trying to avoid any other injuries as well?" She feels the ball of tightness in her chest that has been present since he disappeared from this balcony start to loosen, unfolding into something that feels almost like hope.

"Well... As the only way that seems to happen is to avoid you entirely, I really can't say I have any interest in that scenario."

"Lucifer, that's not-"

He chuckles quietly. "I know, love. Only joking. Except, of course, for the bit about having no interest in avoiding you."

"That's very good. Because I have no intentions of letting you escape me, now that I've finally got you. You're probably going to get very tired of my presence."

"Lovely," he purrs with eyes alight and an impish grin, leading her up the stairs toward the enormous bed. "I look forward to testing my endurance." He leans in to speak into her ear, "And yours."

_He came back. He's here. And we're going to make sure it stays that way._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really, truly, done now. I hope you liked it!


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